Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while will know that Venus is my favourite planet in our solar system. Yes, I know it’s basically a big pressure cooker wrapped in lethally corrosive acid, but I love it all the same. Also, I may have been rather fascinated with the idea of astrobiology on Venus ever since I first read David Grinspoon’s Venus Revealed some years ago.
I also know that the idea of life on Venus seems absurd and practically heretical to quite a lot of people, so I took the time to do something I’ve been meaning on doing for a while now. My latest article for Discovery News knits together the most important news stories from the past several years to give a cohesive picture of how the venusian clouds could harbour some kind of microbial life.
I’d also point out that, as far as we know, Venus-like planets may be just as common in our galaxy as Earth-like ones. That might even be an astrobiology research interest of mine. Or rather, it could be, if I manage to persuade someone to fund me.
Anyway, I’m actually rather proud of this article, you should totally have a read…
From Wikipedia I have learned that at 50Km pressure and temperature are more similar to Earth. That would increase the chance that life might exist on Venus.
Exactly!