Venus is a very inhospitable neighbor. With temperatures around 400° it can still harbor life.
It is a stubborn rumor that hangs in the minds of scientists like plaster on Captain Haddock’s finger. Yet many refuse to believe it, but the more optimistic the supporters, the greater the number. As this group grows, its credibility increases, and most importantly, it increases the circumstantial evidence.
Without really fully understanding it, it would actually be quite possible that the atmosphere of Venus is where life forms are lodged. Primitive, microbial or bacterial, it doesn’t matter, there is life, and if this hypothesis is proven, it would sign a real revolution in our conception of life, the universe and how it works.
The idea of alien life is just for science fiction
For a long time we thought that we were not alone, that somewhere there were other people like us, at least other living species. But for less than half a century, this fantasy has plunged into the worlds of science fiction and pop culture.
Scientists no longer believe in the presence of extraterrestrial life, at least certainly not in our solar system. Yet there is no dearth of candidates. Starting with Jupiter’s moons, Europe in particular, which certainly has an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface, is a perfect breeding ground for life, would you say? Nothing is less certain.
Venus: Ideal candidate in spite of myself?
In fact, the conditions for the development of life on a planet or moon are very specific, and it is certainly not on the very inhospitable Venus that life can take root.
And yet, no matter how strange it may sound, it is within the dense atmosphere of our neighbor that life can exist. Scientists are becoming less and less thinking like this. There is no need to think even for a moment that there can be life on the hot earth of Venus. The latter averages 460 °C, while the breathable air is composed of 96% carbon dioxide. Add to that winds around 360 km/h.
So a doctorate in astronomy is not needed to understand how inaccessible “Earth’s twin sister” may be, as she might be called. But according to the most optimistic scientists, pockets of life exist on Venus. They are found in the atmosphere of the planet.
Indeed, since the 70s and its discovery by the Soviet Union, traces of ammonia were found around the planet. Since then, scientists have found traces of oxygen, but also of water vapor. More clues suggest that life could and still exist on Venus.
Venusian clouds 50 kilometers above sea level would be the best candidates, according to a new study by MIT researchers. these will also be “potentially habitable” under very specific circumstances.
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