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The other place where life could exist is in the upper atmosphere where apparently temperatures are much more hospitable. There's a really good write-up with mo

The other place where life could exist is in the upper atmosphere where apparently temperatures are much more hospitable. There's a really good write-up with more information here [1]. On earth there exists microorganisms that live in our atmosphere so one hypothesis to explain the phosphine is that there may be a similar situation on Venus. I believe its also been theorized that we could build floating cities on Venus [2] given the climate in the upper-middle atmosphere. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Andromeda321/comments/ismnrb/venus_has_phosphine_in_its_atmosphere_what_does/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Andromeda321/comments/ismnrb/venus_... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus

JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
I assume the atmosphere microorganisms on Earth started in a terrestrial tidal pool though and evolved from there. There’s the rub for thinking about atmosphere organisms existing on other planets.
- ch4s3 6y ago
  Venus in the distant past had hospitable surface temperatures.
  - JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
    Oh I did not think about that or know that. That’s true. “Recent studies from September 2019 concluded that Venus may have had surface water and a habitable condition for around 3 billion years and may have been in this condition until 700 to 750 million years ago.”
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
      It is interesting that this timeline lines up roughly with the appearance of plant and animal life on earth.
    - sergeykish 6y ago
      And than they've failed to address greenhouse gas pollution.
- typicalbender 6y ago
  Right, I wont even pretend to be an armchair expert on this just regurgitating what I've read. Long and short of it is we have no idea but from what I recall the original paper was very thorough in trying to explain the phenomenon and life was the most likely hypothesis given what we know. Regardless of the origin it sounds like there is some new science to be found which is exciting.
gambiting 6y ago
In fact the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask - about 50km above the surface the temperatures are around 0-20C and pressure of one atmosphere. No other celestial body in our solar system has anywhere like that. But it's just like this article correctly identified I think - floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars.
- ajuc 6y ago
  > floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars. For me floating cities are much cooler.
- rsynnott 6y ago
  Well, except for the 'walking' bit, it being 50km above the surface.
- jcadam 6y ago
  > the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask The clouds of sulfuric acid might sting a bit. > floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars. Literally!
- thedufer 6y ago
  > the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask Surely a bit of an exaggeration? The mostly carbon dioxide, 1 atm of pressure area is not bad, but it coincides with the thickest cloud coverage. The clouds which are composed of sulfuric acid.
  - samatman 6y ago
    Sure, so add a formfitting and thin fluoropolymer suit to that. We could survive, maybe. But Cloud City would simply reek of rotten eggs, at all times, you'd never escape the stink of it.
arkanciscan 6y ago
Do microorganisms spend their entire lives in Earth's atmosphere, or are they simply found there? It doesn't seem surprising that some would find their way up there, but I have a hard time imagining how microorganisms could maintain a certain altitude. On land, they can anchor themselves to hospitable environments to breed, but in the atmosphere, how could they find one another?
- typicalbender 6y ago
  Apparently they do live in the upper atmosphere. [1]. > Although many of the organisms borne aloft are likely occasional visitors to the upper troposphere, 17 types of bacteria turned up in every sample. Researchers like environmental microbiologist and co-author Kostas Konstantinidis suspect that these microbes may have evolved to survive for weeks in the sky, perhaps as a way to travel from place to place and spread their genes across the globe. "Not everybody makes it up there," he says. "It's only a few that have something unique about their cells" that allows them survive the trip. [1]: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/01/microbes-survive-and-maybe-thrive-high-atmosphere https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/01/microbes-survive-and...
cscharenberg 6y ago
A new novel by Derek Kunsken called "House of Styx" explores in detail human habitation of Venus. In floating cities and airships and realistically dealing with pressures, temps, and the acidity of the atmosphere.
- finnh 6y ago
  Did you enjoy it? I really liked The Quantum Magician (puppets!) but thought The Quantum Garden was not a worthy follow-up.

JohnJamesRambo 6y ago

I assume the atmosphere microorganisms on Earth started in a terrestrial tidal pool though and evolved from there. There’s the rub for thinking about atmosphere organisms existing on other planets.

ch4s3 6y ago
Venus in the distant past had hospitable surface temperatures.
- JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
  Oh I did not think about that or know that. That’s true. “Recent studies from September 2019 concluded that Venus may have had surface water and a habitable condition for around 3 billion years and may have been in this condition until 700 to 750 million years ago.”
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    It is interesting that this timeline lines up roughly with the appearance of plant and animal life on earth.
  - sergeykish 6y ago
    And than they've failed to address greenhouse gas pollution.
typicalbender 6y ago
Right, I wont even pretend to be an armchair expert on this just regurgitating what I've read. Long and short of it is we have no idea but from what I recall the original paper was very thorough in trying to explain the phenomenon and life was the most likely hypothesis given what we know. Regardless of the origin it sounds like there is some new science to be found which is exciting.

gambiting 6y ago

In fact the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask - about 50km above the surface the temperatures are around 0-20C and pressure of one atmosphere. No other celestial body in our solar system has anywhere like that. But it's just like this article correctly identified I think - floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars.

ajuc 6y ago
> floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars. For me floating cities are much cooler.
rsynnott 6y ago
Well, except for the 'walking' bit, it being 50km above the surface.
jcadam 6y ago
> the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask The clouds of sulfuric acid might sting a bit. > floating cities on Venus are not as cool as "normal" cities on Mars. Literally!
thedufer 6y ago
> the atmosphere of Venus is the only place outside of Earth where humans could walk outside with just a simple oxygen mask Surely a bit of an exaggeration? The mostly carbon dioxide, 1 atm of pressure area is not bad, but it coincides with the thickest cloud coverage. The clouds which are composed of sulfuric acid.
- samatman 6y ago
  Sure, so add a formfitting and thin fluoropolymer suit to that. We could survive, maybe. But Cloud City would simply reek of rotten eggs, at all times, you'd never escape the stink of it.

arkanciscan 6y ago

Do microorganisms spend their entire lives in Earth's atmosphere, or are they simply found there? It doesn't seem surprising that some would find their way up there, but I have a hard time imagining how microorganisms could maintain a certain altitude. On land, they can anchor themselves to hospitable environments to breed, but in the atmosphere, how could they find one another?

typicalbender 6y ago
Apparently they do live in the upper atmosphere. [1]. > Although many of the organisms borne aloft are likely occasional visitors to the upper troposphere, 17 types of bacteria turned up in every sample. Researchers like environmental microbiologist and co-author Kostas Konstantinidis suspect that these microbes may have evolved to survive for weeks in the sky, perhaps as a way to travel from place to place and spread their genes across the globe. "Not everybody makes it up there," he says. "It's only a few that have something unique about their cells" that allows them survive the trip. [1]: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/01/microbes-survive-and-maybe-thrive-high-atmosphere https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/01/microbes-survive-and...

cscharenberg 6y ago

A new novel by Derek Kunsken called "House of Styx" explores in detail human habitation of Venus. In floating cities and airships and realistically dealing with pressures, temps, and the acidity of the atmosphere.

finnh 6y ago
Did you enjoy it? I really liked The Quantum Magician (puppets!) but thought The Quantum Garden was not a worthy follow-up.