Four years ago, the unexpected discovery in the clouds of Venus, a gas that on Earth signals the existence of life, phosphine, was the subject of controversy among scientists.

Now, according to CNN, the team behind the above discovery has made further observations, presenting them on July 17 at the Royal Astronomical Society conference in Hull, England.

According to the new scientific data, there is even stronger evidence for the presence of phosphine on Venus, our nearest neighboring planet. It is sometimes called Earth’s evil twin planet. The planet is similar to our own in size, but its surface reaches temperatures that can melt lead and its clouds are made of corrosive sulfuric acid.

The research benefited from the new James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, which gave scientists more confidence in their findings.

Signs of life?

On Earth, phosphine is a toxic and foul-smelling gas produced by decaying organic matter or bacteria. Ammonia is a strong-smelling gas that occurs naturally in the environment and is also produced mainly by bacteria at the end of the decomposition process of plant and animal waste.

Finding these gases on Venus is unexpected. “By all normal expectations, it shouldn’t have been there,” said Dave Clements, a student of astrophysics at Imperial College London. “Phosphine and ammonia have both been suggested as biomarkers, including exoplanets.”

Germs that breathe?

Ammonia on Venus may lead to an even more surprising discovery. The findings, presented at the talks in Hull by Jane Greaves, professor of astronomy at Cardiff University in the UK, will form the basis of a separate scientific investigation, using data from the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

Venus’ clouds are made of droplets, Clements said, but they are not water droplets. There is water in them but they turn into concentrated sulfuric acid, a highly corrosive substance that can be fatal to humans if exposed to it. “There is such a high concentration of sulfuric acid that, as far as we know, it would not be compatible with any life we ​​know on Earth, including extremophilic bacteria, which thrive in very acidic environments,” he said, referring to organisms capable of surviving below extreme environmental conditions.

However, the ammonia within these acid droplets can act as a buffer to the acidity and reduce it to a low enough level that some known terrestrial bacteria can survive in it, Clements added.