Signs of Life found on Venus!

One of the biggest questions that mankind is still finding an answer for is, Are we alone in this universe?, Is Earth the only planet where life exists? or are there more places like this where creatures like us live and life thrives. Over a few decades we are looking for signs of life in the universe in every possible place. 

Let's keep the whole universe aside and talk about our own solar system. There are eight planets and if we exclude earth, then the most probability of finding life will be on Mars. As we know that we are searching for life on Mars from past few decades. There are numerous operations done by various countries and their respective space agencies and numerous more are on their way. Currently there are four rovers on the surface of Mars and one more is on its way. But even after all these years and operations we don't have very satisfying results when it comes to finding signs of life. But you are not here know about Mars right? so let's get to our main topic, Venus. As you must've read the heading that science has found possible signs of life on venus, this can be the biggest news of the decade. Let's dig deeper into it.

Venus (Left) & Mars (Right)

VENUS

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is named after the Roman goddess of live and beauty. As the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, Venus can cast shadows and can be, on rare occasion, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight. Venus lies within Earth's orbit and so never appears to venture far from the Sun, either setting in the west just after dusk or rising in the east a bit before dawn. Venus orbits the Sun every 224.7 Earth days With a rotation period of 243 Earth days, it takes longer to rotate about its axis than any other planet in the Solar System and does so in the opposite direction to all but Uranus (meaning the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east).Venus does not have any moons, a distinction it shares only with Mercury among planets in the Solar System.

WHY WE THOUGHT LIFE COULDN'T EXIST ON VENUS?

Venus has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is about 92 times the sea level pressure of Earth, or roughly the pressure at 900 m (3,000 ft) underwater on Earth. Venus has by far the hottest surface of any planet in the Solar System, with a mean temperature of 737 K (464 °C; 867 °F), even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of Sulphuric acid preventing its surface from being seen from space in visible light. It may have had water oceans in the past, but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to a runaway greenhouse effect. The water has probably Photodissociated and the free hydrogen has been swept into space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venus' surface is a dry deserts cape interspersed with slab-like rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism.

Due to very high temperature and pressure, there is no possible way for life to exist on Venus. Due to these harsh conditions, there are very few attempts done only by the Soviet Union to reach the surface of Venus for research purposes. In 1982, one the their rovers, Vanera 13, was successful in landing on the surface of Venus. It survived for more than 2 hours and also sent images from the surface of Venus.

           Image from Surface of Venus sent by Venara in 1982

POSSIBLE PROOF OF LIFE

Although there is no possible life on the surface of Venus, there recent discovery was made in the atmosphere of Venus.

Astronomers discovered Phosphine Gas between a cloud layer in venus' atmosphere where the temperature is similar to that if Earth's surface. Phosphine is a toxic gas with an odour of garlic and dead fish. Now what is so special about Phosphine? It's very existence! On Earth, Phosphine is manufactured by animals, and it is a bioproduct of life itself.

Last year, A team at MIT released a paper calling Phosphine Gas as a bio signature. They explained how Phosphine can only be produced by living organisms and nothing else. So the best way to search of life in space is to look for signs of Phosphine, and that's what the astronomers did and found Phosphine in Venus 'atmosphere.

            Phosphine molecules, PH₃     

Even though life may not be the perfect explanation of the gas' presence, currently it is the best explanation that we have. We still need to confirm this result as there have been false alarms like this in the past where scientists think they found alien life but it comes out to be something else. But if the information is true, it will change our understanding in a lot of ways.

Maybe it's time for us to move our main concentration from Mars to other planets like venus. Tell us what do you think about this research. Do you think there is alien life out there? Tell us down in the comments. Also, tell what would you like to read in our upcoming blogs. And if you like our blogs do share it with your friends.