Phosphine Detected In The Atmosphere of Venus - Indicator of Microbial Life

Started by jimmy olsen, September 13, 2020, 07:52:48 PM

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jimmy olsen

Time to build some cloud cities!

http://astrobiology.com/2020/09/phosphine-detected-in-the-atmosphere-of-venus---an-indicator-of-possible-life.html

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Phosphine Detected In The Atmosphere of Venus - An Indicator of Possible Life?
Press Release - Source: NASAWatch.comPosted September 13, 2020 6:43 PM


(Monday 14 September) morning at the Royal Astronomical Society. They want you to know its big news. The press release has been issued in advance to some journalists under embargo - but not others (like us). We have not seen the press release. But according to several sources knowledgeable with the details of the announcement phosphine has been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. Its presence suggests - suggests - some strange chemistry going on since phosphine is something you'd only expect to see if life (as we know it) was involved.

The presence of phosphine is seen by many astrobiologists as a "biosignature" i.e. an indicator of the possible presence of life. The detection was made by the Atacama (ALMA) array located in Chile and the James Clerk Maxwell telescope located in Hawaii. The research team includes members from the University of Manchester, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cardiff University. A paper will appear in the 14 September issue of Nature Astronomy.

From what we're told the researchers have concluded that abiotic mechanisms (i.e. ones that do not involve life) that might produce phosphine cannot account for the large amount that they have detected. The phosphine has been detected in the region within the atmosphere of Venus that is considered by some to be potentially habitable. As to what spin the researchers put on this, we'll have to wait for reporters who have the press release or are allowed to participate in the Zoom press conference thing tomorrow at 15:00 GMT to let us know.

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Syt

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The Brain

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Tamas

I think finding life in our solar system outside Earth would be absolutely terrible. It would mean a moralising stop to the industrialisation and terraforming we ought to undertake in the future.

HVC

People do t even care enough to stop the extinction of life forms on earth, do you really think a few space microbes would bother them?
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Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Tamas

Quote from: HVC on September 14, 2020, 06:40:16 AM
People do t even care enough to stop the extinction of life forms on earth, do you really think a few space microbes would bother them?

Yes, far easier to  match public outcry with actual action, when action means inaction.

Eddie Teach

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Valmy

Quote from: Eddie Teach on September 14, 2020, 10:12:48 AM
People don't give a shit about invertebrates, let alone bacteria.

We have tons of Bacteria inside each person, bacteria will thrive whatever planet we move to.
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Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.