On Monday, an international team of astronomers exhaustively showed the cloud tops of Venus contain traces of phosphine — a toxic, rancid gas that is produced by microbial life (and some industrial processes) on Earth. What's more, they say, the chemical’s presence is a mystery. No known non-biological processes can create phosphine in the conditions found on Venus.
If the find is confirmed, it raises the tantalizing possibility that the hellish world may harbor alien life in its weird and mysterious clouds. Alternatively, the phosphine could turn out to be the result of some unknown chemical process, which would be enticing in its own right.
The researchers behind the discovery sought to project a mix of both enthusiasm and restraint when they announced their find during a Zoom press conference on September 14.
"There is a chance we have detected some kind of living organism in the clouds of Venus," Jane Greaves, an astronomer at Cardiff University who led the observations, said during the conference. "This is very exciting and was really very unexpected."
