Phosphine discovery points to the possibility of life on Venus

Life in the clouds sounds romantic, except when those clouds are made of sulphuric acid. Key points: Astronomers have discovered a gas in the atmosphere of Venus that is only produced by microbes and industrial processes on Earth The gas could be a hint of life or it could be a geological or chemical process that we don't know about The finding has implications for the quest to find life elsewhere in our solar system and beyond The discovery, published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, not only has implications for Venus, but the search for life beyond our solar system. "This brings back into play the longstanding — but not much tested — idea of habitable cloud decks on Venus," said Professor Greaves, who led the international research team. "We aren't saying it's a 100 per cent robust detection of life, but what we can say is that we've opened it up to the possibility that it is that," Dr Dempsey said. But if phosphine really is present and is a so-called "biosignature", it would expand the scope of feasible extraterrestrial life being considered, said Dr Mills, who worked on Europe's Venus Express spacecraft.