An analysis of the news report "life on Venus" based on the paper published in Nature Astronomy
* the paper reports a possible detection of PH3. A single line was detected after heavy data processing (for molecular line detections, usually 2 or more lines are required). Quote from the Discussion section of the paper: "confirmation is always important for a single-transition detection. Other PH transitions should be sought"
* Various formation mechanisms are discussed in the paper and rejected as not possible in Venus, leaving life as a possible origin
* News release issued by European Southern Observatory "possible marker of life spotted on Venus" https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2015/ and interviews were given by the authors with the news media on possible life on Venus
* News stories of life on Venus were carried in many international news agencies
Context of the discovery
* PH3 has been detected in Jupiter, Saturn, and the evolved star IRC+20216
* no known chemical reactions can produce the observed amounts of PH3 in IRC+10216 and the same is true for many other stellar molecules
* organic molecules, even very complex ones, are commonly found in the solar system, stellar envelopes, interstellar medium, and galaxies. Their origins are poorly understood.
Questions: is the detection of PH3 an indication of life or the result of our lack of theoretical understanding of cosmic chemistry? Does the scientific result justify the extensive public news exposure?
astronomy paper 在 Nature Astronomy 的相關結果
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