Venus has signs of life as scientists detect evidence of organic matter on planet

The discovery of a stinking gas in the clouds of Venus could possibly indicate signs of life on the planet, scientists have said.

Phosphine gas has been detected by experts in the planet’s atmosphere, suggesting it could host unknown photochemical or geochemical processes.

On Earth, phosphine – a colourless gas that has the smell of garlic or decaying fish – is produced from the breakdown of organic matter.

The discovery of phosphine gas in the clouds of Venus could possibly indicate signs of life on the planet, scientists have said. (European Southern Observatory)

While conditions on the surface of Venus are hostile to life, the environment of its upper cloud deck is temperate.

Boffins are at odds over the study in Nature Astronomy.

Jane Greaves, from Cardiff University, said that traces of the gas were not “robust” evidence for microbial life.

She added that they did indicate potentially unknown processes going on within the clouds.

But Associate Professor Alan Duffy, an astronomer from Swinburne University and the lead scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia, said: “This is one of the most exciting signs of the possible presence of life beyond Earth I have ever seen, and certainly from the most surprising location I could imagine.”