Is life possible on the planet Venus?: what astronomers say

In the year 1610, Galileo Galilei made a crucial discovery observing it Venus, like the Moon, undergoes phases. But this was not his only noteworthy discovery on the planet: studying it more closely with the telescope, he observed a mysterious ashy light, similar to that emitted by our natural satellite.

The ashy light is that dark part of the planet that is not completely in shadow, and emits a faint grayish glow. It is essentially the reflection of sunlight off the surface of Venus.

While Mars has long been the focus of the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists are also turning their attention to Venus. Despite its extreme conditions and reputation as an inhospitable destination, this planet has attracted growing interest thanks in part to recent discoveries in its atmosphere.

Is life possible on Venus?

In some particular circumstances, Venus exhibits this phenomenon of ash-colored light, a fascinating event Franz von Paula Gruithuisenwho was director of the Munich Observatory.

Gruithuisen was one of the first to postulate that lunar craters were formed by meteorite impacts. But his observations were not limited to this: him too he claimed to have seen structures which he interpreted as citiesstar-shaped roads and temples in the forested regions of the Moon.

Gruithuisen, known for his fantasizes about the possibility of extraterrestrial lifeexpressed his exuberant statements in his work “Discovery of many different traces of lunar inhabitants, especially of one of their colossal buildings” in 1824.

With the overflowing imagination that characterized this famous scientist, after his fascination with the ashen light of Venus, it would not be surprising if he came to the conclusion that this phenomenon was artificially produced by the inhabitants of the planet.

He even ventured to make calculations on the possible longevity of the Venusian inhabitants, suggesting that their average lifespan could be around 130 years on their time scale, equivalent to around 80 Earth years.

Using these hypotheses, he hypothesized that the “reign” of the Venusian emperor might have coincided with sightings of the Ashen Light in 1759 and 1806, suggesting a connection between these events and civilizational activity on Venus.

Possible signs of life on Venus

Scientists from MIT, Cardiff University and several partner centers have observed what may be signs of life in the clouds of our other planetary neighbor, Venus.

Although scientists have not found direct evidence of the existence of living organisms, it can be said that their observation could indeed be associated with life.

If so, it would be some type of “aerial” life form in a small region of the Venusian atmosphere, the only apparently habitable portion.

The discovery of the spectral signature of a compound known as phosphine -PH3- of organic origin. On Earth, phosphine is a gas produced primarily from anaerobic biological sources.

The authors argue that the detection of phosphine is not as strong evidence as direct observation of microbial life might be. In this sense, they point out that this phosphine could originate in potentially unknown geological or chemical processes taking place on Venus.

The team concludes that so far there is no other explanation for the phosphine detected in Venus’ clouds other than the presence of life. In this sense, Clara Sousa-Silva, a researcher at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences -EAPS-, states that “it is very difficult to feel anything negative”.

Conditions of Venus

Venus is too known as Earth’s twin, since they have almost the same mass. Many specialists agree and believe this Venus was once covered in water.

It is a planet that stands out for being rockybut it is so high temperature so high that it can melt lead.