Related papers: Recovering Phosphine in Venus' Atmosphere from SOF…
Millimeter-waveband spectra of Venus from both the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) seem to indicate there may be evidence (signal-to-noise ratio of about $15\sigma$) of a…
The atmosphere of Venus remains mysterious, with many outstanding chemical connundra. These include: the unexpected presence of ~10 ppm O2 in the cloud layers; an unknown composition of large particles in the lower cloud layers; and hard to…
We published spectra of phosphine molecules in Venus' clouds, following open-science principles in releasing data and scripts (with community input leading to ALMA re-processing, now benefiting multiple projects). Some misconceptions about…
Long-standing unexplained Venus atmosphere observations and chemical anomalies point to unknown chemistry but also leave room for the possibility of life. The unexplained observations include several gases out of thermodynamic equilibrium…
A defining characteristic of the planet Venus is its thick, CO2-dominated atmosphere. Despite over fifty years of robotic exploration, including thirteen successful atmosphere probes and landers, our knowledge of N2, the…
Phosphine could be a key molecule in the understanding of exotic chemistry happening in (exo)planetary atmospheres. While it has been detected in the Solar System's giant planets, it has not been observed in exoplanets yet. In the…
There are a handful of spectral windows in the near-IR through which we can see down to Venus' surface on the night side of the planet. The surface of our sister planet has thus been imaged by sensors on Venus-orbiting platforms (Venus…
The potential detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus has reignited interest in the possibility of life aloft in this environment. If the cloud decks of Venus are indeed an abode of life, it should reside in the "habitable zone"…
The initial reports of the presence of phosphine in the cloud decks of Venus has led to the suggestion that volcanism was the source of phosphine, through volcanic phosphides ejected into the clouds. Here we examine the idea that mantle…
The Venus Life Finder Missions are a series of focused astrobiology mission concepts to search for habitability, signs of life, and life itself in the Venus atmosphere. While people have speculated on life in the Venus clouds for decades,…
Venus shares many similarities with the Earth, but concomitantly, some of its features are extremely original. This is especially true for its atmosphere, where high pressures and temperatures are found at the ground level. In these…
Life in the clouds of Venus, if present in sufficiently high abundance, must be affecting the atmospheric chemistry. It has been proposed that abundant Venusian life could obtain energy from its environment using three possible sulfur…
We study the amount, size distribution and material composition of (sub-)mic aerosol particles in the lower Venus atmosphere < 50 km. Our GGchem phase-equilibrium model predicts metal-chloride and metal-fluoride molecules to be present in…
Venus is Earth's sister planet, with similar mass and density but an uninhabitably hot surface, an atmosphere with a water activity 50-100 times lower than anywhere on Earths' surface, and clouds believed to be made of concentrated sulfuric…
Signs of lightning on Venus have long been sought, including by space missions and ground-based telescopes searching for optical flashes, plasma waves, or radio signatures. These efforts have yielded conflicting findings regarding the…
Understanding in which chemical forms phosphorus exists in star- and planet-forming regions and how phosphorus is delivered to planets are of great interest from the viewpoint of the origin of life on Earth. Phosphine (PH3) is thought to be…
One of the most intriguing, long-standing questions regarding Venus' atmosphere is the origin and distribution of the unknown UV-absorber, responsible for the absorption band detected at the near-UV and blue range of Venus' spectrum. In…
In the light of the recent announcement of the discovery of the potential biosignature phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus I present an independent reanalysis of the original JCMT data to assess the statistical reliability of the…
The community commonly assumes that the Venusian atmosphere lacks organic (reduced) carbon. This is reflected in the literature, which now for almost a half a century does not mention organic carbon in connection with the Venus atmosphere.…
Thermal radiation becomes a prominent feature in the continuum spectrum of Venus longwards of $\sim$3 $\mu$m. The emission is traceable to the upper cloud and haze layers in the planet's mesosphere. Venus' thermal radiation spectrum is…