Tag: Venus
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Five Venus Missions That Could Launch in the Next Decade to Study Earth’s Evil Twin
Background: Venus as Earth’s Evil Twin Venus, often called Earth’s twin due to its similar size and composition, is anything but similar in climate and surface conditions. With a scorching surface, a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, and sulfurous clouds, Venus remains one of the solar system’s most intriguing and least understood worlds. After the recent…
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Five Venus Missions Poised to Study Earth’s Evil Twin in the Next Decade
Why Venus deserves another look Earth’s scorching sister world has long teased scientists with clues about why a planet can diverge so radically from its neighbor. Venus, often called Earth’s “evil twin,” hides its conditions behind thick clouds of sulfuric acid and extreme heat. After Akatsuki’s long struggle to regain contact, space agencies are renewing…
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Reimagining Venus Clouds: Water-Rich Hydrates Rewrite a Planet’s Atmospheric Tale
New Look at an Old Mission Fifty years after NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission descended through Venus’ clouds, researchers have revisited the mission’s mass spectrometry data with modern techniques and a fresh hypothesis. The result: Venus’ cloud decks may be far more water-rich than previously believed, with water largely bound in hydrated minerals rather than existing…
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Revisiting Pioneer Venus: New Insights Suggest Venus’s Clouds Are Mostly Water
Intro: A Fresh Look at Old Data In the genre of scientific sleuthing, old datasets often become the most unexpected plot twists. A new study reexamines decades-old data from NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission and argues that the clouds of Venus are largely composed of water, bound up in hydrated minerals rather than existing as free…
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50-Year-Old Data Reveals Venus’s Clouds Are Mostly Water
New Insights from Old Data Reanalyzing legacy missions with modern science is not just fashionable—it can rewrite long-standing stories about our planetary neighbors. A recent study reexamines data from NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission, released in the 1970s, and challenges the prevailing view that Venus’s clouds are dominated by sulfuric acid. The team finds that water…
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Phosphine on Brown Dwarfs Challenges Life-Signature Claims
Phosphine and the hunt for alien life Phosphine, a molecule composed of one phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms, has long been touted as a potential beacon of life beyond Earth. On our planet, phosphine is produced mainly by biological activity or through industrial synthesis, making it a compelling, albeit controversial, biosignature. In recent years,…
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Phosphine on a brown dwarf reshapes the life-sign biosignature debate
Phosphine on a brown dwarf: a surprising detection NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected phosphine in the atmosphere of Wolf 1130C, a brown dwarf often described as a “failed star.” The discovery, published in Science, challenges the idea that phosphine is a universal sign of life. Brown dwarfs sit between planets and stars:…
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Astronomical Events in October 2025: Harvest Moon, Meteors, and More
Harvest Moon: October 2025’s Brightest Night October 6–7 kicks off with the Harvest Moon, a full moon that often appears unusually large and luminous as it rises in the evening sky. This month’s Harvest Moon also qualifies as a supermoon, thanks to its proximity to Earth. For best results, watch from a clear, dark horizon…
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Mysterious phosphine in a brown dwarf casts doubt on Venus biosignature claims
A mysterious molecule in a brown dwarf challenges our ideas about life signals A new study published in Science reports the detection of phosphine, a simple phosphorus-bearing molecule, in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf named Wolf 1130C. The finding is provocative because phosphine has long been touted as a potential sign of life when…
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Phosphine on a Brown Dwarf Complicates Venus Biosignature Claims
What this finding means A team of astronomers reporting in Science has detected phosphine, a simple phosphorus-hydrogen molecule, in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf named Wolf 1130C. The result is intriguing because phosphine has long been discussed as a potential biosignature—an indirect hint of life—when found in Venus’ clouds. The new observation shows that…