Venus may be able to support life, new atmospheric evidence suggests

[Admin]

Preliminary evidence for gases that could be biosignatures have been found in the atmosphere of Venus, but even if these biosignatures are real, does it necessarily imply life?

Venus may be able to support life, new atmospheric evidence suggests : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

The article is incorrect where it states "HDO), water with three hydrogen atoms rather than two and the usual one oxygen atom."

This "semi-heavy water" is 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The "D" is the deuterium version of hydrogen, and has a neutron in its atomic nucleus as well as the single proton that makes it hydrogen.

What we call "heavy water" is D2O, with both hydrogen atoms having the extra neutron.

 

[Gibsense]

Would I be correct to say that deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen; maybe?

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Would I be correct to say that deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen; maybe?

Of course. What is incorrect is saying that there are 3 hydrogen atoms in the HDO molecule.

 

[Torbjorn Larsson]

Here is a pessimist converting to optimist under the new data:

From a scientific perspective, the new data about phosphine and ammonia is intriguing but warrants cautious optimism, said Javier Martin-Torres, a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. He led a study published in 2021 that challenged the phosphine findings and postulated that life isn’t possible in the clouds of Venus.

“Our paper emphasized the harsh and seemingly inhospitable conditions in Venus’s atmosphere,” Martín-Torres said in an email. “The discovery of ammonia, which could neutralize the sulfuric acid clouds, and phosphine, a potential biosignature, challenges our understanding and suggests that more complex chemical processes might be at play. It’s crucial that we approach these findings with a careful and thorough scientific investigation.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/29/science/venus-gases-phosphine-ammonia/index.html

This is ever more interesting! Besides the gases we have the cell sized radio signal disperser at roughly the habitable cloud layer height.

Meanwhile, the correlation between Earth and Venus is getting stronger, since at least the smallest of the two more validated venusian "continents" seems indeed be a craton:

The Ishtar Terra highlands on Venus consist of Lakshmi Planum, an Australia-sized crustal plateau with an average elevation of ~4 km that is comparable to that of the Tibetan Plateau, surrounded by elongated mountain belts with elevations of around 10 km, taller than the Himalayas. The region is floored by thick crust that is comparable to that of cratons on Earth. On Earth, plateaus and mountain belts result from the collision of tectonic plates. However, the origin of Ishtar Terra remains enigmatic because Venus lacks Earth-like plate tectonics. Here we use three-dimensional thermo-chemo-mechanical computational simulations of Venus-like mantle convection to show how magmatism and tectonics emerge from mantle dynamics. The simulations show that a lithosphere weakened as a result of high initial hydration or high surface temperatures enhances convective thinning and decompression melting, favouring the emplacement of a thick magmatic crust on top of a deep residual depleted mantle. The stiffer residual root deflects mantle flow outwards, leading to the formation of fold belts around the buoyant lithosphere that are consequently uplifted into a plateau and preserved from further deformation. The modelled topography, crustal thicknesses and gravity is consistent with observational constraints of Ishtar Terra. Our findings suggest that plateau formation on Venus may operate similarly to craton formation on the hot early Earth, before the onset of plate tectonics.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01485-3

 

[sizzlerjoe]

Not..