"Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure," scientists once said in describing conditions on the second planet from the sun, but apparently its clouds contain the right conditions to possibly support alien life, a new study finds.
Computer models have suggested that Venus once had a habitable climate for hundreds of millions of years and liquid water on its surface for even longer.
The lower cloud layers on Venus contain favorable conditions, including "moderate temperatures and pressures," that could host micrcoorganisms, according to the research published in Astrobiology.
The possibility of the existence of microbial life on Venus is not new. It dates back decades to the late 1960s. A 2004 study also concluded that chemical and physical conditions in the planet's lower cloud layers, could support microorganisms.
In the latest research, scientists point to the dark patches on Venus' clouds. They believe the clouds are made of sulfuric acid, iron, carbon dioxide and light-absorbing particles, like those found on Earth, and compared the dark spots to algae blooms in lakes, pointing to the size of the particles in the dark spots.
Researchers are urging more studies and have suggested gathering samples from Venus' clouds to find out for sure whether alien life truly exists there.
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