Astronomers have discovered a gas in the atmosphere of Venus that is only produced by microbes and industrial processes on Earth.
Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour. Similar in structure but slightly smaller than Earth, it is the second planet from the sun. Earth is the third. Venus is wrapped in a thick, toxic atmosphere that traps in heat. Surface temperatures reach a scorching 471 degrees celsius, hot enough to melt lead.
“But a long time ago, Venus could have had life on its surface, before a runaway greenhouse effect left the majority of the planet completely uninhabitable.”Some scientists have suspected that the Venusian high clouds, with mild temperatures around 30 degrees celsius, could harbor aerial microbes that could endure extreme acidity. These clouds are around 90 per cent sulphuric acid. Earth microbes could not survive that acidity.
On Earth, microorganisms in “anaerobic” environments - ecosystems that do not rely on oxygen - produce phosphine. These include sewage plants, swamps, rice fields, marshlands, lake sediments, and the excrements and intestinal tracts of many animals. Phosphine also arises non-biologically in certain industrial settings.
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