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This documentary on Venus is one of the most compelling documentaries I have seen: https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizonCollection512Episodes/BBC+Horizon+-+s1

This documentary on Venus is one of the most compelling documentaries I have seen: https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizonCollection512Episodes/BBC+Horizon+-+s1995e06+-+Farewell+Fantastic+Venus.avi https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizonCollection512Episodes/... If you watch it you'll hear the story of Venus plate tectonics and they present it in such a way as to make it one of the most fascinating mysteries of the solar system. It's a documentary worth settling in to for an hour on the couch and enjoying the ride. Anyhow my theory (as a highly qualified astro geologist) is that Venus, whilst being the same size as the Earth does not have plate tectonics because it does not have a moon which pulls the magma around the planet, stirring it up nicely. Instead, Venus surface just cools off and then gets hot again periodically. I hope you didn't buy the astro geologist line.

defrost 4y ago
Any thoughts on the chemistry here? Astronomers may have found a signature of life on Venus Evidence indicates phosphine, a gas associated with living organisms, is present in the habitable region of Venus’ atmosphere. https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 In particular: MIT scientists have previously shown that if this stinky, poisonous gas were ever detected on a rocky, terrestrial planet, it could only be produced by a living organism there. ( I'm assuming your credentials as an astro biologist are fine... )
- bioemerl 4y ago
  If that is what I think it is, I'm pretty sure that isn't considered strong evidence anymore. I don't know exactly why, I just remember there's reason to be skeptical of it and the reason seemed pretty valid. Something to do with the amounts being minuscule, the fact that there are valid explanations outside of biology that could create such a chemical.
  - andrewflnr 4y ago
    IIRC there was some combination of the data actually being kind of patchy, and the signal being consistent with SO2.
  - goodcanadian 4y ago
    I'll have to look for the source, but they did follow-up observations with a different instrument and detected phosphine again. In spite of the wide-spread scepticism, the observation appears to be real. The source of the phosphine can be debated, of course.
- andrewstuart 4y ago
  Based on my impeccable qualifications as an Astro biologist, it seems unlikely to me there’s life there given the intense heat and crushing pressure but lots of people like to be optimistic about it.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - zirgs 4y ago
    There's a lot more pressure at the bottom of Earth's oceans. The heat and lack of liquid water could be the deal breakers though.
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  sidenote: I'm so glad the field of celestial artist renditions has been rug pulled by AI just always annoyed me that someone was paid to pretend like one of our great telescopes saw something that looked like what the headline says
  - defrost 4y ago
    Both the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile made the spectral observation inferred to be phosphine (aka 'signature of life') described in the headline and lede.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
pengaru 4y ago
I thought it was generally accepted science that Earth was the only planet having plate tectonics in the entire solar system...
- zamadatix 4y ago
  A couple of moons in the solar system are thought to as well.
welder 4y ago
That was recorded in 1995... almost 30 years ago.
- croutonwagon 4y ago
  so what? We havent sent much of anything to Venus in the past 30 years. There isnt TOO much to add. Parker Solar probe I believe made a few passes in the last couple years that added some terrain mapping and a few headlines about life possibilities based on some spectrographic reads that ended up being debunked. But I dont think much else has been done. All that is to say, something from 30 years ago is probably still pretty relevant for Venus.
- andrewstuart 4y ago
  News from Venus is slow.

defrost 4y ago

Any thoughts on the chemistry here? Astronomers may have found a signature of life on Venus Evidence indicates phosphine, a gas associated with living organisms, is present in the habitable region of Venus’ atmosphere. https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 In particular: MIT scientists have previously shown that if this stinky, poisonous gas were ever detected on a rocky, terrestrial planet, it could only be produced by a living organism there. ( I'm assuming your credentials as an astro biologist are fine... )

bioemerl 4y ago
If that is what I think it is, I'm pretty sure that isn't considered strong evidence anymore. I don't know exactly why, I just remember there's reason to be skeptical of it and the reason seemed pretty valid. Something to do with the amounts being minuscule, the fact that there are valid explanations outside of biology that could create such a chemical.
- andrewflnr 4y ago
  IIRC there was some combination of the data actually being kind of patchy, and the signal being consistent with SO2.
- goodcanadian 4y ago
  I'll have to look for the source, but they did follow-up observations with a different instrument and detected phosphine again. In spite of the wide-spread scepticism, the observation appears to be real. The source of the phosphine can be debated, of course.
andrewstuart 4y ago
Based on my impeccable qualifications as an Astro biologist, it seems unlikely to me there’s life there given the intense heat and crushing pressure but lots of people like to be optimistic about it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- zirgs 4y ago
  There's a lot more pressure at the bottom of Earth's oceans. The heat and lack of liquid water could be the deal breakers though.
yieldcrv 4y ago
sidenote: I'm so glad the field of celestial artist renditions has been rug pulled by AI just always annoyed me that someone was paid to pretend like one of our great telescopes saw something that looked like what the headline says
- defrost 4y ago
  Both the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile made the spectral observation inferred to be phosphine (aka 'signature of life') described in the headline and lede.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

pengaru 4y ago

I thought it was generally accepted science that Earth was the only planet having plate tectonics in the entire solar system...

zamadatix 4y ago
A couple of moons in the solar system are thought to as well.

welder 4y ago

That was recorded in 1995... almost 30 years ago.

croutonwagon 4y ago
so what? We havent sent much of anything to Venus in the past 30 years. There isnt TOO much to add. Parker Solar probe I believe made a few passes in the last couple years that added some terrain mapping and a few headlines about life possibilities based on some spectrographic reads that ended up being debunked. But I dont think much else has been done. All that is to say, something from 30 years ago is probably still pretty relevant for Venus.
andrewstuart 4y ago
News from Venus is slow.