New research could potentially help pave the way to proving the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Astronomers have discovered vital evidence that could point to signs of extraterrestrial life on Venus. It is noted that two gases - phosphine and ammonia - were detected in the atmosphere of the planet, which is an important sign that very clearly indicates the presence of life. After further research, even more convincing evidence appeared that this is so: phosphine gas was found in various new parts of the planet that were not known before.
"We haven't figured out the modeling of the atmosphere yet, but there are a lot of strange things in the atmosphere of Venus. Phosphine is just one of them that has recently appeared. Among the other strange things is how the amount of water and the amount of SO2 in the atmosphere changes over time. It is not known why. These changes have not been tracked to any great extent, but they are known to occur on time scales of at least a few days to several years," said Dr Dave Clements of Imperial College London. The detection of ammonia in the panel is of particular interest, as there are currently no known examples where the gas is present and life is absent. There are other models coming out all the time, other explanations that say, 'Oh, you can get ammonia and phosphine and all sorts of other unexpected chemicals that aren't associated with life,' so we try not to overdo it, but yeah, it's really exciting." , - says Professor Jane Greaves of Cardiff University.