Greaves’ three observations of the phosphine line on Venus from JCMT and ALMA. Now, there are three epochs of data - two from JCMT and one from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array ( ALMA) - showing a detection of this phosphine spectral line. Much to her surprise, the spectra showed a detection! To be sure of what she was seeing, Greaves spent nearly three years looking at the data set and analyzing it before publishing her landmark research. She used the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on Mauna Kea to observe Venus at millimeter wavelengths, peering into a “temperate” layer of clouds on Venus to search for spectral signatures of phosphine’s J=1-0 line. Greaves had the idea to investigate this in what she calls a “blue skies” project - something that was a bit of a long shot and would only take a few hours of observing time, but could be revolutionary if it worked. This means that if we were to observe phosphine on Venus, it could be taken as a likely sign of anaerobic life. Phosphine is also produced by industrial processes on Earth and even in the guts of penguins! But we don’t know of a way to make lots of phosphine just through photochemistry in an atmosphere. These microbes, if they existed, probably wouldn’t use oxygen since there’s little of it in the Venusian atmosphere, and we know that anaerobic (not using oxygen) microbes on Earth can produce phosphine (PH 3).
Early missions like Mariner 2 and Venera 14 revealed a dried-out surface with a sweltering temperature of 900☏, the result of a “runaway greenhouse effect.” Yet, some scientists think that microorganisms from a previously lush surface could have taken refuge in Venus’s thick clouds, where they may still reside today. Venus, though, has long been thought of as quite an inhospitable place. In 2020, Professor Jane Greaves and collaborators released a paper that became headline news and claimed a detection of phosphine on Venus, which could be a possible sign of extraterrestrial life. (More specifically, phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere!) After the 2020 World-Wide Protests: Progress and Failures of Implementing Substantial Change in Astronomyįred Kavli Plenary Lecture: Phosphine in the Atmosphere of Venus, Jane Greaves (by Briley Lewis)ĪAS 240 started off today with a hot topic: possible detections of alien life.Committee for the Status of Women in Astronomy Activities in the Context of the Astro2020 Decadal.Heineman Prize Talk: Robert Lupton (Princeton University) & David Weinberg Ohio State University.Plenary Lecture: Héctor Arce (Yale University).Press Conference: Magnetic Fields & Galaxies.Addressing the Impact of Satellite Constellations on Astronomy: The Pathway Forward.Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Lecturer: Jocelyn Bell Burnell (University of Oxford).Press Conference: Deciphering Dust, Analyzing Andromeda & Evolving/Ending Exoplanets.Fred Kavli Plenary Lecture: Phosphine in the Atmosphere of Venus, Jane Greaves (Cardiff University).The usual posting schedule for AAS Nova will resume on June 21st. Follow along here or at for daily summaries, or follow on Twitter for live coverage. Along with a team of authors from Astrobites, we will be writing updates on selected events at the meeting and posting each day. Editor’s Note: This week we’re at the 240th AAS meeting in Pasadena, CA, and online.