Could there be UV Absorbing Organisms in the Clouds of Venus?
Somebody seems to think so:
The bands are the mystery. Some unknown substance within them strongly absorbs UV light, accounting for almost half of the solar energy trapped
by Venus. Whatever is in there, it plays a big role in maintaining Venus' hellish climate; the average temperature on the surface is about 460°
Celsius. Astronomers have been studying the bands since Mariner 10 spotted them in the 1970s, but decades later no one knows the identity of the "UV
absorbers." Candidates range from gaseous chlorine and sulfur compounds to alien life using UV radiation as a source of energy...
Source:
spaceweather.com...
(I think Zorgon or John Lear had originally posted this in another Venus thread)
Edit : Turns out mine is a different article, but it is also from Spaceweather. So I thought I had seen it before...
...In any case, check out what Zorgon found about NASA's view on Venusian life:
*Originally Posted in the John Lear Moon Pictures Thread - Link Below:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Venus seems bland. It's a featureless, cloud-covered orb about as interesting as a billiard ball. But if that same telescope is fitted with an
ultraviolet filter, a mystery reveals itself. Venus' clouds are cross-crossed with fast-moving dark bands...
The bands are the mystery. Some unknown substance within them strongly absorbs UV light, accounting for almost half of the solar energy trapped by
Venus. Whatever is in there, it plays a big role in maintaining Venus' hellish climate; the average temperature on the surface is about 460°
Celsius. Astronomers have been studying the bands since Mariner 10 spotted them in the 1970s, but decades later no one knows the identity of the "UV
absorbers." Candidates range from gaseous chlorine and sulfur compounds to alien life using UV radiation as a source of energy.
SOURCE
"There is some reason to believe Venus may have been the best haven for life in the early solar system," he said. With 900 degree Fahrenheit
surface temperatures and an atmosphere permeated by carbon dioxide, chlorine and sulfuric acid clouds today, Venus seems inhospitable to "our kind of
life," he said. "But we really don't know much about life -- its requirements, it's differences and how to recognize it."
It is even possible that life on Earth may have evolved from life forms provided by Venus, Grinspoon said: "Pieces of planets were blasting off of
each other all the time early in the evolution of the solar system, and microbes from Venus could easily have wound up on Earth."
While the standard scientific view is that life requires water and carbon-based molecules, it cannot really be said if that is the only chemical
system that can make life, said Grinspoon, who has been studying the surface, atmosphere and clouds of Venus for 10 years through NASA-sponsored
programs.
SOURCE
[edit on 25-6-2009 by Exuberant1]
