Phosphine on Venus points to volcanic activity on Venus

[Judi Lynn]

It’s telling us about the geology of Venus.

BY
AMIT MALEWAR
JULY 13, 2021



Maat Mons, a large volcano on Venus, is shown in this 1991 simulated-color radar image from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft mission. Credit: NASA/JPL

Last year, Phosphine was discovered in the clouds of Venus, evidence of life on Venus. Phosphine exists in Venus’s clouds at a small concentration, only about twenty molecules every billion.

Cornell scientists say Phosphine’s chemical fingerprints support a different and important scientific find: evidence of explosive volcanoes on the mysterious planet.

This time, the race gas Phosphine is not telling about the biology of Venus; instead, it tells about the geology of Venus.

Scientists in this study argue that Volcanism is the means for Phosphine to get into Venus’ upper atmosphere. After examing data from the ground-based, submillimeter-wavelength James Clerk Maxwell Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile.

More:
https://www.techexplorist.com/phosphine-on-venus-points-volcanic-activity-venus/40034/

[-misanthroptimist]

1. Venus has always intrigued me

I'd love to go back in time and find out what events led to the current state of that planet.

I also wonder if it might not be easier to terraform Venus rather than Mars at some point? Obviously it's well beyond our capabilities now, but it's also obvious that Venus can hold an atmosphere -perhaps one friendly to us- unlike Mars.

[cstanleytech]

2. Just as hard probably as we would have to find a way to reduce the extreme heat and the

acid filled atmosphere not to mention Venus has almost no magnetic field which means its more vulnerable than earth to things like solar flares.