The Cambridge University research team combined biochemistry and atmospheric chemistry theories to build a model to test the hypothesis of “life in the cloud” previously speculated by astronomers on Venus, and found that life cannot explain Venus’ atmospheric phenomena.
This controversial idea has been around for decades, because Venus’ atmosphere is very rich in sulfide, 100,000 times more abundant than Earth’s atmosphere, and combines into compounds such as sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid and carbonyl sulfide (OCS). Earth’s sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanoes, so probably Venus too. But observations have found that the atmosphere of Venus is very peculiar: it is abundant in the lower layers of the atmosphere, but very little in the upper layers. Some scientists have proposed that there are organisms in the Venus cloud that consume sulfur as food and consume sulfur dioxide in the upper atmosphere. In fact, it is not a new idea to have life in the atmosphere of Venus. As early as 1967, biologist Harold Morowitz and astronomer Carl Sagan proposed that the temperature in the upper sky of Venus is low, and the clouds may have life. statement.
Based on the theory of biochemistry and atmospheric chemistry, the Cambridge University research team developed a computer model to study a series of metabolic reactions carried out by life to obtain “food” and discharge waste, to see if it matches the phenomenon seen in the atmosphere of Venus. They found that life with sulfur metabolism could indeed explain the observed consumption of sulfur dioxide, but the metabolic process also produced a large number of other compounds that were not observed. The phenomenon of life therefore cannot explain the observed lack of sulfur dioxide.
The research team believes that although the model shows that there is no hidden sulfur-eating life in the Venus cloud, and it is not clear why there is a shortage of sulfur dioxide, this model can not only study the atmosphere of Venus, but also help to identify planets that may have life, especially if exoplanets have Certain sulfur molecules, characteristic of which can be seen by the Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
(This article is reproduced with permission from the Taipei Planetarium; source of the first image: pixabay)
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