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Mar 28, 2024 · Despite being Earth's "twin," Venus sizzles at temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees and is blanketed by clouds made of corrosive sulfuric acid, a colorless, carcinogenic liquid that dissolves...
- A Stable Base
- Venusian Life
- Exploring The Clouds
For life to form, it needs a liquid solvent to enable reactions within cells. Among the rocky planets and moons of our solar system, sulfuric acid is one of three known liquids found. Liquid water is present on Earth and below the surface of several icy moons like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus. And liquid methane seas abound on Titan. And...
So, although scientists still do not know if life is possible in concentrated sulfuric acid, Seager and her team do not think the likelihood should be excluded. Life in Venus’ clouds, as detailed in their paper, could find a way by using sulfuric acid in cloud droplets as a liquid solvent instead of water. In this scenario, Venus did not have to be...
Regardless of whether they host life, there’s plenty about Venus’ clouds we don’t yet know. Planetary researchers have observed unexplained atmospheric chemistry, including a potential detection of phosphine, along with other strange cloud properties, such as dark patches where ultraviolet light is absorbed. The reason for the absorption remains un...
Jun 22, 2021 · A radar view of Lavinia Planitia, on Venus, where the planet's rocky outer layer has broken into blocks (purple) delineated by belts of tectonic structures (yellow)
Aug 7, 2019 · Eventually, Venus became a runaway greenhouse with all the water dumped into the atmosphere trapping as much heat as possible, with the surface temperatures continuing to skyrocket.
Mar 20, 2024 · MIT researchers have found that amino acids — major building blocks for life on Earth — are stable in highly concentrated sulfuric acid. Their results support the idea that these same molecules may be stable in Venus’ highly sulfuric clouds.
Oct 7, 2024 · Venus' atmosphere at the surface is 90 bars, which means that it is 90 times as thick as Earth's atmosphere. This means that, at the surface of Venus, there is a pressure similar to what's...
People also ask
Could life survive in Venus' clouds?
Why was Venus a runaway greenhouse?
Are organic molecules stable in conditions like Venus' sulfuric acid clouds?
How thick is Venus' atmosphere at the surface?
Does Venus have a magnetic field?
What if Venus hosts lifeforms in toxic clouds?
The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide – the same gas driving the greenhouse effect on Venus and Earth – with clouds composed of sulfuric acid. And at the surface, the hot, high-pressure carbon dioxide behaves in a corrosive fashion.
