(09-14-2020, 03:40 PM)RMH999 Wrote: Phophine gas in Venusian atmosphere

Potential sign of life?  Phosphine concentrations are millions of times higher than what geological processes we know of can produce (not saying that Venus can't have something going on), so the current possibility is bacterial life of some type.

Quote:However, Dr Andrew Zic, the lead author of the latest study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, said: "What our research shows is this makes the planets very vulnerable to dangerous ionising radiation that could effectively sterilise them."
This problem does not plague life on Earth in the same way because the hot clouds of ionised particles emitted by the Sun are too far away and our planet is shielded by a powerful planetary magnetic field.
Dr Zic, of Macquarie University, Sydney, added: "This is probably bad news on the space weather front.
"It seems likely the galaxy's most common stars - red dwarfs - won't be great places to find life as we know it."
...
The latest findings about Proxima b were based on observational data from space and land-based telescopes that captured the space conditions in “amazing detail”.
It suggests that planets around red dwarfs such as Proxima Centauri are likely to be showered with stellar flares and plasma ejections.
The orbiting planets would therefore suffer from strong “atmospheric erosion”, which would expose them to very intense ultraviolet radiation.

Quote:The last time the pair were observed to be this close was in 1226, almost 800 years ago, a time when Ghengis Khan's rule was coming to an end.

Quote:To reach this conclusion, scientists tested their theory on a group of horses and zebras wearing different kinds of coats. The researchers dressed both horses and zebras in black coats, white coats, and striped zebra coats.