Controversial phosphine findings on Venus corroborated

Four years after the discovery of phosphine in the clouds around Venus prompted excitement – and also scepticism – that it was a sign of life on the planet, there is now new confirmation of the chemical around the planet. These preliminary findings suggest that there might be life – or at the very least new chemistry – in the extreme environment of Venus, a planet shrouded by clouds of sulfuric acid and with a surface hot enough to melt lead.

A team led by Dave Clements, a reader in astrophysics at Imperial College London, announced initial findings at a special session of the National Astronomy Meeting in the UK in July. They are yet to be peer reviewed and based on a tremendous amount of new data since the initial discovery of phosphine in 2020. The researchers have not only found phosphine (PH₃) in Venus’s atmosphere once more, but also ammonia at parts per billion deeper down in the clouds.