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Discovery of Phosphine on Venus: Possible Sign of Life?
The search for extra-terrestrial life is rooted in who we are as a species. We are curious beings, hungry for knowledge. This desire to explore is in our DNA. Who are we? Where are we from? How did everything come to be? If there is other life out there, just how advanced are they? And most terrifying, are we all alone in this vast universe?
These existential questions are what make us human.
In terms of alien life within our solar system, scientists have always looked to our red neighbor, Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn: Europa and Enceladus. However, a recent discovery has caused them to look elsewhere, a planet overlooked in the past.
Often called Earth’s sister, Venus has approximately equal mass. It is speculated that not so long ago, Venus and Earth were extremely similar. According to Stephen Kane of the University of California, Riverside, recent climate models show that Venus may have retained liquid water on its surface ranging from as close as 700 million - 1 billion years ago. With liquid water on its surface, it’s possible Venus once had an atmosphere much like that of Earth. This means life as we know it may have existed.
