In September last year it was released a study “Exciting”! In an atmosphere Veneer There was such an amount Phosphine (Considered Bioferma) To get us thinking about the forms of active life on this planet. The interest of researchers and enthusiasts has clearly been very great given that it has to do with finding other forms of life in the solar system. Now, a new study will reveal the falsehood of this discovery by not talking about phosphine, but rather sulfur dioxide.
From phosphine to sulfur dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere
The study has been carried out beforeUniversity of Washington It will soon be announced in The Astrophysical Journal while it is now available at Pre-print. These are not new observations but rather a new analysis of the data that the British researchers initially relied on.
According to the co-author of the new study, Victoria MeadowsAnd the “Instead of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, the data agrees with an alternative hypothesis: They were discovering sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide is the third most common chemical compound in Venus’ atmosphere and is not considered a sign of life.”.
What is indicated, after reviewing the data, is that the affected area will be higher than the one in which it is located Phosphine (PH3Moreover, thesulfur dioxide (And therefore2) As the most plausible fraction of the atmosphere for Veneer. In those layers of the atmosphere, phosphine will also be destroyed after a few seconds.
New methods of analysis and new results
In the new study it was decided to create a model for the internal atmosphere Veneer. In more detail, both references Phosphine Fromsulfur dioxide At various rates as detected by JCMT and ALMA. According to this finding, it was discovered that the signal came from an altitude of about 100 km in the mesosphere. In this range, UV rays will destroy the phosphine in no time.
With this rapid time to destroy the molecule, the production level is Phosphine for him Veneer It should be about 100 times higher than the oxygen produced on Earth by photosynthesis. The frequency is certainly high and largely unsustainable. Moreover, ALMA drastically reduced the amount of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere due to the formation of the antenna with a phenomenon called Spectral Line Dilution.
researcher Alex Akins (From JPL) He concluded a low sulfur oxide discovery2 Because of that artificially weak signal from ALMA. “But our model indicates that the ALMA data would still have been consistent with typical or even large amounts of crystal sulfur dioxide, which could explain the observed JCMT signal.”. Again they will expect more evidence, but life seems to go on Veneer Less likely than expected.
