A Possibility of Life on Venus
Shirin Saha
Astronomers in Hawaii and Chile have spotted a gas called phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. Phosphine is three hydrogen atoms and one phosphorus atom. Some scientists believe that it’s a byproduct of a biological process. It’s possible that there might be some bizarre microbe residing in Venutian clouds and it might be producing Phosphine.
Planetary scientists have researched other natural events that could produce phosphine, such as volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere. However, there was no evidence that phosphine could be produced by anything but living organisms.
Microorganisms may be living 30 miles above ground in the thick carbon-dioxide layer cloud deck, where it's about room temperature or slightly warmer. It contains droplets with tiny amounts of water but mostly sulfuric acid that is a billion times more acidic than what’s found on Earth.
The claim that there might be a possibility of life on Venus is still very tentative and a lot more evidence would be needed to assert anything.
Questions:
Is it reasonable to conclude that extraterrestrial organisms have the ability to survive in very different environments than the organisms on Earth?
What kind of evidence could verify this claim?
Should we be focusing on Astronomical studies as much before trying to solve Earth’s countless issues (such as global warming, pollution, the unknowns about our oceans etc)?
Article Link: https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2020-09-14/astronomers-see-possible-hints-of-life-in-venuss-clouds
Picture link:
https://images.app.goo.gl/uFDv3DAJEbetbbQy5
I think it is reasonable to assume as a similar process was noticed dealing with life, there being water droplets as well could support the life possibility but the acid may be a factor in which its dangerous for life and I think life on other planets is important because it can show us what can live in what environments.
ReplyDelete-Tyler A.
It is reasonable to assume that there is a potential for other life to survive in harsh conditions, there are organisms that live in extreme environments on Earth, therefore, I do believe that this is potentially possible. I'm not sure what evidence we would need to confirm that an organism does live there, as we may not be able to even recognize this organism since it is so different from what we are used to.
ReplyDeleteCarissa Bersche
I think it is definitely reasonable that extraterrestrial organisms have the ability to survive in a different environment that organisms on earth, because we do not know what is out in the universe and we are still surprised to find organisms that live in environments on earth when we thought it was impossible. I definitely think when we get the technology to detect more organisms we will be surprised about what we could not see before.
ReplyDelete-Angeline Upchurch
The third question is super interesting because I've never really thought about it in that way. I think that while learning about space is fascinating and can give us insight into our universe and Earth's history, our Earth and its well being should be the priority. We are running out of time till the effects of climate change and global warming become irreversible. I do think we should put spending and efforts into learning about Space, just not as much as we are. Great topic!
ReplyDelete-Trinity Mathis
i think its very reasonable to assume that life could exist in harsh environments. Silicon, while unable to form as strong of bonds as carbon would be able to, the molecules are a lot more temperature resistant and therefore silicon based life would be able to survive extremely temperature harsh conditions, silicon life however, would turn solid if exposed to oxygen, in the case of Venus, there is no oxygen in the atmosphere so its reasonable to assume biochemistries like this could potentially flourish. - Nathan Clark
ReplyDeleteI think that studying space is very interesting, and we shouldn't stop exploring space but I think we need to prioritize Earth. We've only discovered 5-7% of the ocean which is a pretty sad percentage. Instead of spending $50 million dollars to send one person to space we should spend that money creating equipment that would allow researchers to withstand the extreme pressures of the deep sea.
ReplyDelete-Ilori T