{"id":21303,"date":"2022-12-22T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T15:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21303"},"modified":"2023-01-03T11:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T10:23:05","slug":"it-is-unlikely-that-there-are-aliens-on-venus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/12\/22\/it-is-unlikely-that-there-are-aliens-on-venus\/","title":{"rendered":"It is unlikely that there are aliens on Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IT IS UNLIKELY THAT THERE ARE ALIENS ON VENUS<\/h2>\n\n

Data collected by NASA\u2019s SOFIA observatory overturns previous findings that phosphine gas, a potential sign of microbial life, is present in the planet\u2019s atmosphere <\/h4>\n\n

An analysis of data collected by NASA\u2019s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has turned up no evidence of phosphine in Venus\u2019s atmosphere. <\/p>\n\n

The NASA researchers were following up on the detection of phosphine by Japan\u2019s Akatsuki satellite back in 2020. At the time, the discovery got astronomers excited, as phosphine is considered to be a sign of life. This is because phosphine is unlikely to arise from chemical processes on worlds such as Venus, but is known to be produced by microbial life in bogs, swamps and marshes on Earth. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cPhosphine is a relatively simple chemical compound \u2013 it\u2019s just a phosphorus atom with three hydrogens \u2013 so you would think that would be fairly easy to produce. But on Venus, it\u2019s not obvious how it could be made,\u201d said Martin Cordiner, a researcher in astrochemistry and planetary science at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland.<\/p>\n\n

SOFIA was a telescope mounted on a Boeing 474 that was recently retired from service. It flew around 13km high in the Earth\u2019s stratosphere, putting it above 99 per cent of the atmosphere\u2019s infrared-blocking effects. This allowed astronomers to study the Solar System in ways not possible with ground-based telescopes. <\/p>\n\n

The data analysed in the study were collected during observations of Venus\u2019s atmosphere over the course of three flights in November 2021. The SOFIA telescope\u2019s high resolution allowed it to scan for traces of phosphine around 75-110km above the entirety of the planet\u2019s surface \u2013 the same region as the original 2020 finding. However, no sign of the compound was found. <\/p>\n\n

The new research complements data taken from other experiments carried out since 2020 that all point to phosphine not existing anywhere in Venus\u2019s atmosphere, from the equator to the poles. <\/p>\n\n

Many aspects of Venus\u2019s atmosphere continue to puzzle scientists, and further discoveries may be made with NASA\u2019s VERITAS and DAVINCI missions, slated for launch in the late-2020s. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The spectral data from SOFIA is overlain on top of this image of Venus. If a significant amount of phosphine were present in the planet\u2019s atmosphere, there would be dips in the graph at the four locations labelled PH 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

IMAGE: NASA\/JPL-CALTECH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPACE <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"31","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"31","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_31-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_31-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"New-Year-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"New-Year-2023","purple_external_id":"New-Year-2023-31-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"New-Year-2023-31-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000089662||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089662||","purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue386","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue386","purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue386","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue386","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"0f422ad1-c939-476d-9f82-a410052ad4c3","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-12-22T16:00:45Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"a4d23d58-77d4-4af1-8b5d-88076970d1af","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-03T10:23:10Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ApNI9WHfUSvGLXYgHaXDRrw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[15],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4.jpg",2048,1358,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4-768x509.jpg",768,509,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4-1024x679.jpg",800,530,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4-1536x1019.jpg",1536,1019,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/12\/c266f802-2f2c-4c64-8df9-dbc64e58e6e4.jpg",2048,1358,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"SPACE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21303"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22140,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303\/revisions\/22140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}