This hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, is centered on the North Pole. NASA's Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98 per cent of Venus.
This hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, is centered on the North Pole. NASA's Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98 per cent of Venus.
A combination picture shows the planet Venus as it transits across the face of the sun as seen from the Greenwich Observatory on June 8, 2004 in London. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012. Getty Images
A combination picture shows the planet Venus as it transits across the face of the sun as seen from the Greenwich Observatory on June 8, 2004 in London. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012. Getty Images
This photo of Venus was taken by the Galileo spacecraft.
This photo of Venus was taken by the Galileo spacecraft.
In the early evening hours of the Space Shuttle Atlantis' first day in space for the four-day STS-30 mission, the Magellan spacecraft is released into space to begin its long journey to the planet Venus for an extensive radar mapping mission.
In the early evening hours of the Space Shuttle Atlantis' first day in space for the four-day STS-30 mission, the Magellan spacecraft is released into space to begin its long journey to the planet Venus for an extensive radar mapping mission.
NASA's Mariner 2 was the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft. Launched August 27, 1962, on an Atlas-Agena rocket, Mariner 2 passed within about 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) of Venus.
NASA's Mariner 2 was the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft. Launched August 27, 1962, on an Atlas-Agena rocket, Mariner 2 passed within about 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) of Venus.
This archival image shows engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory looking at data related to the Venus flyby of Mariner 2 on Dec. 14, 1962. This was the first successful flyby of another planet.
This archival image shows engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory looking at data related to the Venus flyby of Mariner 2 on Dec. 14, 1962. This was the first successful flyby of another planet.
Earth observation captured by crew members onboard Atlantis, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 104, shows the sunset over the Earth as well as the planet Venus near the center of the frame.
Earth observation captured by crew members onboard Atlantis, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 104, shows the sunset over the Earth as well as the planet Venus near the center of the frame.
Artist conception of surface of Venus. Courtesy NASA / Rick Guidice
Artist conception of surface of Venus. Courtesy NASA / Rick Guidice
This radar image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft is of a half crater located in the rift between Rhea and Theia Montes in Beta Regio on Venus and has been cut by many fractures or faults since it was formed by the impact of a large asteroid.
This radar image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft is of a half crater located in the rift between Rhea and Theia Montes in Beta Regio on Venus and has been cut by many fractures or faults since it was formed by the impact of a large asteroid.
This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The topographic backbone (brown color) was derived from data obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft and the overlay was derived from data from ESA's Venus Express Spacecraft.
This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The topographic backbone (brown color) was derived from data obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft and the overlay was derived from data from ESA's Venus Express Spacecraft.
This radar mosaic from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows a 600 kilometres segment of the longest channel discovered on Venus in 1990.
This radar mosaic from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows a 600 kilometres segment of the longest channel discovered on Venus in 1990.
This is an updated montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
This is an updated montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
This chart compares the first Earth-size planets found around a sun-like star to planets in our own solar system, Earth and Venus. NASA's Kepler mission discovered the newfound planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f.
This chart compares the first Earth-size planets found around a sun-like star to planets in our own solar system, Earth and Venus. NASA's Kepler mission discovered the newfound planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f.
The June 5, 2012 transit of Venus, the small dot to the right of centre, was captured by a Johnson Space Center photographer in Rocket Park. Courtesy: NASA
The June 5, 2012 transit of Venus, the small dot to the right of centre, was captured by a Johnson Space Center photographer in Rocket Park. Courtesy: NASA

World

Possible signs of life discovered on 'hellish' Venus

Scientists stunned at one of the most exciting signs of possible presence of life beyond Earth

Robert Matthews

September 14, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Possible signs of life have been found in the atmosphere of Venus, according to an international team of scientists.

Traces of phosphine, a gas linked to bug-laden swamps on Earth, have been found around 50 kilometres up in the planet’s atmosphere. According to the researchers, the persistence of the gas suggests it is being replenished by some process – and biological activity is the only known explanation.

“We concluded there is no known chemical and physical process that could conceivable produce [the] phosphine,” said team member Dr Janusz Petkowski of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in America.

“This opens a very rather bold possibility that there might be something living in the clouds of Venus.”

The discovery – made using Earth-bound radio telescopes and reported in Nature Astronomy - has shocked scientists, who have long dismissed Venus – the Earth's nearest neighbour – as utterly inhospitable.

Completely shrouded by a thick atmosphere choked with carbon dioxide and clouds of concentrated sulphuric acid, the surface is hot enough to melt lead. This has led scientists to focus on the search for life on Mars, so far without success.

“This is one of the most exciting signs of the possible presence of life beyond Earth I have ever seen and certainly from the most surprising location I could imagine,” said Prof Alan Duffy, an astronomer from Swinburne University and lead scientist at The Royal Institution of Australia.

“Our twin planet Venus is a hellish world.”

According to Prof Duffy, conditions are less severe high in the atmosphere, and become Earth-like at around 50km – the altitude at which the phosphine was detected. “Something is forming it anew and as phosphine is associated with life on Earth it is tempting to think it could be life on Venus.

“But before we can become more confident about that we have to rule out all possible other non-biological means of producing it.”

An artist's impression of the surface of Venus. Courtesy NASA / Rick Guidice
An artist's impression of the surface of Venus. Courtesy NASA / Rick Guidice

Other astronomers also expressed similar excitement over the discovery. "This is huge: it could be the first detection of life beyond Earth,” said Dr Danny Price of the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA), Australia. “If life can arise in hyperacidic clouds on Venus, it may be that life is widespread across the Galaxy.”

However, Dr Price also stressed the need for caution: “There could be some complex mechanisms replenishing phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus, that we haven't seen happen here on Earth. We need to do intense follow-up observations to provide further evidence.”

How was the discovery made?

A team led by Prof Jane Greaves at Cardiff University, UK were looking for signs of unusual molecules in the atmosphere of Venus using the James Clerk Maxwell radio telescope based in Hawaii. In June 2017 they detected tiny amounts of phosphine, a mixture of phosphorous and hydrogen floating around 50km above the surface of Venus. They then confirmed the discovery using another radio telescope in the Atacama Desert of Chile.

Why the excitement about phosphine?

A toxic, colourless gas, phosphine is also found in trace amounts in the Earth’s atmosphere, and has been linked to swamps – home to so-called anaerobic microbes which do not need oxygen to survive. The discovery of the same gas around Venus has sparked excitement because it should be quickly destroyed by the sulphuric acid in the planet’s atmosphere. This suggests some source of phosphine is continually topping it up. The researchers have investigated a host of possible sources, including volcanoes on the surface of the planet, lightning the atmosphere and even micrometeorites delivering it from space. However, the researchers could find no other source other than biological activity able to produce the levels of gas they observed.

Our twin planet Venus is a hellish world

So does that mean life has definitely been found on another planet?

No – and the researchers are keen to stress this. There could be some as-yet unknown chemical process that’s creating the gas. That’s quite likely in the case of Venus, which is a very bizarre place. About the same size as the Earth but closer to the Sun, its intensely hot surface is invisible to ordinary telescopes, and probes that have landed there have been destroyed in hours. Despite various missions to the planet, many mysteries remain about Earth’s nearest neighbour. The researchers also admit the link between phosphine and life is “highly speculative” and raises major technical questions.

Haven’t there been claims like this before?

Yes – about life on Mars. In the mid-1970s, two Nasa probes landed on the surface of the Red Planet with on-board labs designed to test for microbes in the soil. Some of the tests gave positive results, but a panel of experts decided these could have been the result of strange chemical reactions unconnected with life – the very same possibility that could explain the phosphine discovery.

In the mid-1990s, a similar claim was made about the discovery of fossilised life in a meteorite found in Antarctica. Tests showed the meteorite had come from Mars, and a team of Nasa scientists made headlines by claiming to have found a microscopic worm-like fossil trapped within it. Then US president, Bill Clinton, even hailed the potential significance of the discovery. However, the scientific community never accepted the claim, and the consensus is again that some unknown process had fooled the researchers.

What organisms might be creating the gas ?

At best, they are unlikely to be anything more than microbes. Their size is limited by the need to stay aloft in the atmosphere long enough to account for the phosphine. Airborne life is entirely possible: microbes have been found floating through the thin air over 10km above the Earth, and are now thought to play a role in cloud formation. Their Venusian counterparts would also have to survive in clouds of sulphuric acid – but again Earth-bound “acidophilic” microbes have been found that can do this.

What Venusian microbes might consume in order to emit phosphine remains unclear, however.

What happens next?

The research will come under intense scrutiny by other scientists, especially the questionable link between phosphine and living organisms. History also shows that claims about the existence of alien life based just on a failure to find alternative explanations provoke huge scepticism from the scientific community. Even so, the research is likely to prompt a rethink in the quest to find life beyond the Earth – and especially the current focus on Mars. Nasa in particular is likely to dust off plans to revisit Venus and use balloons to study its atmosphere.

Robert Matthews is Visiting Professor of Science at Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
On Women's Day
Gulf Under 19s final

Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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HIJRA

Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy

Director: Shahad Ameen

Rating: 3/5

What sanctions would be reimposed?

Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:

  • An arms embargo
  • A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
  • A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
  • A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
  • Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
The national orchestra
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street

The seven points are:

Shakhbout bin Sultan Street

Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

While you're here
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile

Started: 2013

Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev

Sector: e-commerce

Size: 600 plus

Stage: still in talks with VCs

Principal Investors: self-financed by founder

Tomorrow 2021
The Details

Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5 

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Company Profile

Name: JustClean

Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries

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The biog

Age: 23

Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

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Favourite hobby: playing the piano

Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"

Family: Married and with a daughter

RESULT

Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')

Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)

On Women's Day
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Tomorrow 2021
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Specs

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Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
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Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

Seek professional advice from a legal expert

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You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline

In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Bio

Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro

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