Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 September 15

          Biomarker Phosphine Discovered in the Atmosphere of Venus
          Image Credit: ISAS, JAXA, Akatsuki; Processing: Meli thev

   Explanation: Could there be life floating in the atmosphere of Venus?
   Although Earth's planetary neighbor has a surface considered too
   extreme for any known lifeform, Venus' upper atmosphere may be
   sufficiently mild for tiny airborne microbes. This usually disfavored
   prospect took an unexpected upturn yesterday with the announcement of
   the discovery of Venusian phosphine. The chemical phosphine (PH3) is a
   considered a biomarker because it seems so hard to create from routine
   chemical processes thought to occur on or around a rocky world such as
   Venus -- but it is known to be created by microbial life on Earth. The
   featured image of Venus and its thick clouds was taken in two bands of
   ultraviolet light by the Venus-orbing Akatsuki, a Japanese robotic
   satellite that has been orbiting the cloud-shrouded world since 2015.
   The phosphine finding, if confirmed, may set off renewed interest in
   searching for other indications of life floating high in the atmosphere
   of our Solar System's second planet out from the Sun.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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