Astronomers find potential sign of life high in Venus’s atmosphere

Astronomers have found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighbouring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet.

Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted in the thick Venutian clouds the chemical signature of phosphine, a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with life, according to a study in Monday's journal Nature Astronomy.

Several outside experts — and the study authors themselves — agreed this is tantalizing but said it is far from the first proof of life on another planet. They said it doesn't satisfy the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence standard established by the late Carl Sagan, who speculated about the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus in 1967.