The Discovery Of Life On Venus

September 27th, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It doesn’t have any natural satellites/Moons and is a rocky planet. The close distance to the Sun coupled with the thick atmosphere of Venus makes it trap an insane amount of heat and hence, Venus is known to be the hottest planet in the Solar System. The temperatures on this planet can reach up to a blazing 462 degrees Celsius. This is enough to kill you and turn you into ashes in less than 2 seconds. Furthermore, it rains Sulphuric acid on this planet which is a highly corrosive acid and will burn you in the matter of seconds. This deadly rain is caused due to the composition of its atmosphere. If you want to see a place similar to hell in this life, then go to Venus and you’ll have an idea.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/16/1008478/venus-soon-as-possible-phosphine-clouds-astrobiology-life-veritas-davinci/

According to some theories, Venus was very similar to Earth millions of years ago; however, something went terribly wrong and unimaginable amounts of gases such as Cabon dioxide were released. Scientists still aren't sure about what exactly happened but whatever happened, it wasn't normal. This gives birth to many questions such as, was Venus once habitable, if yes then what lived on it, where did the inhabitants go or what happened to them, and so on. Whatever the changes may be in favor of life being on Venus, it is a general conception that in the current conditions, Venus cannot be home to any kind of living organism in any way, taking into account its conditions. However, you would be shocked to hear that scientists have recently discovered signs of life in Venus's atmosphere.  

Even though the surface of Venus may not be welcoming, the atmosphere may be the place where we should look for life in the form of microorganisms. There is a region of Venus's atmosphere that isn't too hot or too cold and may be suitable for life to exist in.  

Hence, Scientists have detected the presence of Phosphine gas in the same ideal region of the atmosphere of Venus. Phosphine is a deadly molecule to humans and was also used in the first World War as a weapon in chemical warfare. The reason behind Phosphine being so toxic to humans is that it reacts very easily with the oxygen that our body needs to respire and survive. However, Phosphine is not toxic to the forms of life which do not require oxygen to survive. In fact, some also produce phosphine. This gas is often found in oxygen-free environments on our planet and is produced by the waste of some microbial organisms. Therefore, if some kinds of microbes produce phosphine on Earth, there could also be some organisms on Venus that can produce Phosphine.  

The deep story behind this discovery is that one of the astronomers operating the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope at Hawaii known as Jane Greeves detected a hint of Phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus but that sign was confirmed by a more powerful telescope ALMA or Atacama Large Millimeter Array telescope located in Chile. 

After observing Venus again, scientists were assured that it was indeed, Phosphine. After countless experiments and simulations of trying to create Phosphine without life, the scientists failed and hence, it was sure now that according to the laws of modern science, Phosphine can only be produced by microbial life.  

There are two plausible explanations for the Phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere. Either the production of Phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus is the result of some reactions that are unknown to modern science. Or, there is microbial life in the atmosphere of Venus which is producing the Phosphine gas.  

Venus has now become the top priority for Scientists and they are planning to send missions there to search for life. This would happen soon because Venus isn't very distant from us being a planetary neighbor.  

Nebulae - The Most Beautiful Places in the Universe

September 20, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

Nebulae are giant clouds of gas and dust in space. Some of them may have formed due to the explosion of stars into supernovae. Nebulae are the regions where stars form and the Sun is also formed from the elementary particles in a Nebula.  

In this series, I will highlight some of the most beautiful and attractive Nebulae. There are countless Nebulae in the universe with some visible to the naked eye in a clear night sky as well.  

The first Nebula I’ll talk about is one which you may have seen or heard about before. This Nebula is known as the Crab Nebula. It is also known as Messier 1.

https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9948f/

It is an expanding remnant of a Supernova that has a Pulsar at its center. I have explained what a Pulsar is in one of my previous blogs. The Crab Nebula is located in the northern region of constellation Taurus. It is approximately 6500 light-years away from us. This Nebula is more than 75,000 times luminous than our Sun. The Supernova explosion that resulted in the creation of the Crab Nebula is known as SN 1054 since it was observed by Chinese Astronomers in 1054 A.D. The diameter of this beautiful Nebula is approximately 11 light-years across and is expanding at the speed of 1500 km per second.  

The Pulsar at the center on the Crab Nebula is known as the Crab Pulsar which is approximately 20 to 30 km across. It is a rapidly rotating neutron star that spins at a rate of almost 30 times per second.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Pulsar

The explosion of the star that formed the Nebula has produced a large shell of elements that still exist in the Nebula. However, this Nebula will eventually disappear and the fragments will be dispersed into space nearby.  

This Nebula was discovered in 1731 by an Astronomer named John Bewis. However, later, Astronomer Charles Messier discovered it independently in 1758 while looking for Halley’s Comet, which was predicted to return that year.  

Imagination

September 13, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

Humans are the supreme inhabitants of Planet Earth and have been dominating it for thousands of years. In the current era, humans have developed to such an extent in astronomy that they can observe celestial bodies that are millions of light-years away. However, we cannot travel to these places as we haven’t discovered the technology to travel such distances in our lifetimes. Therefore, we are limited in power and technology. But we have an ability that makes us superior over any other known organisms and that ability is imagination. Imagination has no boundaries and it can take us anywhere at any time. It is our imagination and curiosity that has brought us to this point in scientific development.  

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095042-nasa-approves-five-more-years-for-hubble-space-telescope/

Moreover, imagination is the key with which many known scientists have unlocked the secrets of the universe. If Einstein hadn’t imagined riding a beam of light, he may have not published theories like the general relativity which lays a basis in astronomical discoveries and the forces that govern the universe. Hence, with imagination, we can simulate any scenario for reasons such as discovering something or imagining of something that one cannot afford to experience. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution."  

Furthermore, another great scientist with exceptional imagination was Nikola Tesla who had developed the ability to visualize his work and this allowed him to save a great deal of time, money, and effort in building and testing his machines. Therefore, he discovered the secrets of the universe in terms of energy and frequency and is to this day, well known for his work like Einstein.

Even I sometimes imagine traveling to my favorite celestial bodies such as Pulsars, Nebulae, and Black Holes though I cannot go there physically. I can imagine falling into a Black Hole and experiencing what's within. 

A Salty Underworld Below Martian Surface

September 6, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

In July 2018, data from the European Space Agency's Mars Express successfully found traces of a possible water lake below the icy surface on that exists on the south pole of Mars. 

However, two years later, they found fresh evidence supporting the existence of liquid water on Mars. Scientists examined radar images of Mars that were collected over a period of over 10 years and found evidence of not only one but several pools of water below the Martian surface. 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mars-lake-south-pole-ice-surrounded-pools-water

In detail, 100 radar images that were captured by the Mars Express spacecraft from 2010 till 2019, scientists behind this discovery found evidence of several liquid bodies below glaciers. These liquid bodies varied in sizes. The largest of which is 19 km m across and the smallest is nearly 5 km across.  

Taking into account, the average temperature on Mars is around -80 degrees Celsius, which is too cold to sustain any liquid water at the surface. 

However, researchers believe that these lakes maintain their liquid state thanks to their high concentrations of salt. Basically, Saltworks to get down the freezing point of water so the water can become colder than zero degrees Celsius before it turns to solid ice. In addition, water that contains salt can reach temperatures of nearly minus –21 degrees Celsius. 

Many scientists believe Mars was once a hospitable planet like Earth and might even have hosted life forms millions of years ago. However, the atmosphere of the planet was ripped away because the planet lacked a strong magnetic field like Earth's, allowing solar wind to deprive it of a thick atmosphere.  

https://astronomy.wonderhowto.com/how-to/old-are-you-mars-and-venus-learn-convert-earth-years-across-our-solar-system-0132937/

Though, we shouldn’t lose hope because discoveries like these suggest that some parts of the red planet can be welcoming to life, and could even contain some form of microbial life that survived the calamities.