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Processing error
In September, a team of scientists made a big splash by claiming that they found possible signs of life in the atmosphere of Venus. They said they found traces of phosphine, a colorless gas that results from the decomposition of organic matter here on Earth.
But a recent reanalysis of the results calls into question that conclusion, as Nature relationships. In fact, the exact same team that made the initial discovery have now discovered that some of their data may have included a processing error.
The team then concluded that phosphine levels are not as high as they initially thought, based on observations made using the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.
Concentration problem
The new analysis, based on data released by ALMA in mid-November, concluded that average levels of phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere are only about one part per billion, only one-seventh of what the team originally reported in September, such as Nature points out.
Cardiff University astronomer Jane Greaves, who led the research, is now suggesting that phosphine levels can vary significantly in the Venusian atmosphere and may even peak and decline over time.
From Venus
To conclude that life exists on Venus, the team must first confirm once and for all that phosphine is present in the planet’s atmosphere and the best way to do that, they say, is to send another probe.
Even if we exclude phosphine, however, scientists can’t wait to get there.
“There are 1,001 reasons to return to Venus, and if the phosphine ‘disappears’ through further observation and analysis, there will still be 1,000 reasons to go,” David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist at the Planetary Science Institute who was not involved in the research, he said Nature.
READ MORE: The prospects for life on Venus vanish, but they are not dead yet [Nature]
More on Venus: Researchers: Claim of Life Molecules on Venus may have been an Error
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