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Venus ' atmosphere isnotoriously hellish . Its air is erosive and raging enough to melt lead-in . Its inflate clouds are poisonous to human being . Sometimes , it rains acid . But research worker just discovered that , sandwiched between layer of toxic throttle , this inhospitable atmosphere contains a thin bed of molecularoxygen .
Historically , Venushas received far less scientific attention than Earth ’s other neighbor , Mars . Recent account that the constitutive compoundphosphine may ( or may not ) existin the Venusian cloud , however , have trip new interest in studying the planet .
A flase-color view of Venus
The newfangled mensuration hail courtesy ofNASA ’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ( SOFIA ) , a Boeing 747 that the agency retrofitted with a 2.7 - meter ( 8.9 feet)infraredtelescope . A team of German astrophysicist pored through data from SOFIA , focusing on 17 positions in Venus ' atmosphere , on both the satellite ’s dayside and nightside . They detected molecular oxygen — a gas composed of nonbonded oxygen molecule — in all of them . The resultant were published Nov. 7 in the journalNature Communications .
But that does n’t imply astronauts would be able to take a breath atomic number 8 on Venus just as they would on Earth . Molecular oxygen is distinct from the atomic number 8 that we catch one’s breath on our satellite : Whereas breathable O consist of two bonded atomic number 8 molecule , creating the molecule O2 , molecular oxygen is a soup of single , free - floating oxygen atoms . If we tried to rest it , it would react too easy with the tissues in our lungs and would n’t make it to our blood stream .
Oxygen had been previously follow on the nightside of Venus , but this marks the first time researchers have detected it in the day - get down regions as well . The researchers suspect that the molecular oxygen work up up as the sun ’s heat breaks down carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide molecules . Winds high in the standard pressure then whisk it over to the planet ’s nightside , where the gratis oxygen molecule gradually react with other elements .
A glimpse of a volcano on Venus' parched surface
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The molecular O layer also believably has a slight cooling impression on the upper bed of Venus ' atm . This modest cooling is n’t enough to cancel the major planet ’s runawaygreenhouse effect , but it does hint at Venus ' milder , more pleasant past .
The determination also highlights how much scientist still have to learn about Earth ’s hostile " matching . " Withtwo forthcoming NASA missionary station , as well as one helm by theEuropean Space Agency , Venus is about to receive a lot more attending , which may mean more discoveries in the near hereafter .
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