Jupiter’s clouds have water conditions that would allow Earth-like life to exist, but this isn’t possible in Venus’ clouds, according to the groundbreaking finding of new research led by a […]
Venus
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Recovery of Spectra of Phosphine in Venus' Clouds
We recover PH3 in the atmosphere of Venus in data taken with ALMA, using three different calibration methods. The whole-planet signal is recovered with 5.4{\sigma} confidence using Venus bandpass self-calibration, […]
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Life On Venus? First We Need To Know More About Molecules In The Atmosphere
The search for life on other planets has received a major boost after scientists revealed the spectral signatures of almost 1000 atmospheric molecules that may be involved in the production […]
Posted inVenus
The Phosphene Controversy: Is it Phosphene? Is there life on Venus?
On 14th September 2020, the Royal Astronomical Society made an official statement coupled with a webminar on the discovery of phosphine on Venus. Single-line millimetre-waveband spectral detections of phosphine (with […]
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Complications In The ALMA Detection Of Phosphine At Venus
Recently published ALMA observations suggest the presence of 20 ppb PH3 in the upper clouds of Venus. This is an unexpected result, as PH3 does not have a readily apparent […]
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Claimed Detection Of PH3 In The Clouds Of Venus Is Consistent With Mesospheric SO2
The observation of a 266.94 GHz feature in the Venus spectrum has been attributed to PH3 in the Venus clouds, suggesting unexpected geological, chemical or even biological processes. Since both […]
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Three Different Ways to Explain the Sulfur Depletion in the Clouds of Venus
The depletion of SO2 and H2O in and above the clouds of Venus (45 — 65 km) cannot be explained by known gas-phase chemistry and the observed composition of the […]
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On the Robustness of Phosphine Signatures in Venus' Clouds
We published spectra of phosphine molecules in Venus’ clouds, following open-science principles in releasing data and scripts (with community input leading to ALMA re-processing, now benefiting multiple projects). Some misconceptions […]
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Brightness Modulations Of Our Nearest Terrestrial Planet Venus Reveal Atmospheric Super-rotation Rather Than Surface Features
Terrestrial exoplanets orbiting within or near their host stars’ habitable zone are potentially apt for life. It has been proposed that time-series measurements of reflected starlight from such planets will […]
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Re-analysis Of Phosphine In Venus' Clouds
We first respond to two points raised by Villanueva et al. We show the JCMT discovery spectrum of PH3 can not be re-attributed to SO2, as the line width is […]