What is found?

Astronomers recently discovered a signal of life in Venus. In Venus’s atmosphere, Jane Greaves at Cardiff University in Wales detected Phosphine that is usually made by microbes on Earth. She stated that with the help of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, Phosphine was able to be observed from the cloud of Venus. Phosphine is a molecule that constitutes three hydrogen atoms and one phosphorus atom and can be formed by heat and pressure. Some scientists hypothesize that since there is no energy to produce Phosphine in Venus naturally, it might be the livings on Venus which create Phosphine. Moreover, Phosphine breaks down easily, which means that it should be constantly created and provided by something on Venus in order to be detected by the telescope. Even though some argue the energy that produces Phosphine might be due to the energy that is created by the collision of an asteroid and Venus, however, the possibility is low because the amount of Phosphine observed by the telescope is much more than the potential amount of it by the collision. All hypotheses do not match for creating Phosphine on Venus except for the hypothesis about the signal of life. It is clear that something unknown is happening on Venus’s cloud or that there is a possibility of life. Clara Sousa Silva, an astrophysicist, concluded that the finding was “extraordinary” and that more can be discovered by “going back to Venus”.

What should be the next step?

Astronomers should research more about Venus. They had little interest in Venus for a long time. Venus Express by ESA (European Space Agency) completed its mission of researching the atmosphere and surface of Venus in 2014. The current probe that passes the orbit of Venus is Akatsuki by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). More technological support should be provided for Venus Venus probes. Also, more hypotheses should be made and tested regarding the atmospheric pressure and the temperature of 50 kilometers from Venus’s surface being bearable for lives. Having more attention to Venus might become a way to get new information about space. Therefore, it is time when every country’s funding and plans about missions to Venus are necessary for the improvement of astronomy.

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