11. Venus’s Phosphine
Found Year: 2020
Jane Greaves found it.
Location: Venus’s planet
Measurements of trace gases in planetary atmospheres enable us to look into chemical environments that are different from Earth’s. Venus, Earth’s closest neighbour, has slightly acidic cloud decks; although this finding was initially met with considerable scepticism, the newly obtained information is significant.
Venus’s Phosphine NASA / JPL / CALTECH & ESO, M. KORNMESSER, L. CalíADA
We do know that only life on Earth is capable of producing phosphine. This kind of information, therefore, has shocked science, particularly astronomy, since it was discovered on Venus. Ultimately, however, the data has been criticised extensively.
zi ang