Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus
Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus
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DOI：
10.1038/s41550-020-1174-4
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发表时间：
2020-09-14
期刊：
影响因子：
14.1
通讯作者：
Hoge, Jim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Greaves, Jane S.;Richards, Anita M. S.;Hoge, Jim
对行星大气中微量气体的测量有助于我们探索与地球上不同的化学条件。我们最近的邻居金星有温带但酸性很强的云层。在这里，我们报告了金星大气中明显存在的磷化氢(PH3)气体，在那里任何磷都应该以氧化的形式存在。来自JCMT和ALMA望远镜的单线毫米波段光谱探测(质量高达15西格玛)没有其他可信的识别。推测大气PH(3)丰度接近20 ppb。在对稳态化学和光化学途径进行了详尽的研究后，PH(3)的存在无法解释，目前还没有已知的金星大气、云、地表和次表层的非生物生产路线，也没有来自闪电、火山或陨石输送的非生物生产路线。PH(3)可能来自未知的光化学或地球化学，或者，类比于地球上PH(3)的生物生产，来自生命的存在。应该寻找其他PH(3)光谱特征，而现场云和地面采样可以检查这种气体的来源。
Measurements of trace gases in planetary atmospheres help us explore chemical conditions different to those on Earth. Our nearest neighbour, Venus, has cloud decks that are temperate but hyperacidic. Here we report the apparent presence of phosphine (PH3) gas in Venus's atmosphere, where any phosphorus should be in oxidized forms. Single-line millimetre-waveband spectral detections (quality up to similar to 15 sigma) from the JCMT and ALMA telescopes have no other plausible identification. Atmospheric PH(3)at similar to 20 ppb abundance is inferred. The presence of PH(3)is unexplained after exhaustive study of steady-state chemistry and photochemical pathways, with no currently known abiotic production routes in Venus's atmosphere, clouds, surface and subsurface, or from lightning, volcanic or meteoritic delivery. PH(3)could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry, or, by analogy with biological production of PH(3)on Earth, from the presence of life. Other PH(3)spectral features should be sought, while in situ cloud and surface sampling could examine sources of this gas.