A new study rules out the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus, the Associated Press and AFP reported.
Scientists in Europe and the United States said Monday that there was not enough water in the clouds around the planet to sustain life as we know it.
The researchers set about the study after their colleagues surprisingly announced last September that small organisms could inhabit the dense veil of strongly acidic clouds that encircle Venus up to 60 kilometers high.
Astronomers have used data from observations of spacecraft and found that the water content in the clouds of Venus is more than a hundred times lower than necessary for life to exist on Earth.
“It’s almost at the bottom of the cliff and an insurmountable distance from what you need for an active life,” said study leader John Holsworth, a microbiologist at Queens University Belfast in Northern Ireland.
However, he and his colleagues believe that there is enough water in the clouds of Jupiter and suitable atmospheric temperatures for life.
“I’m not saying there is life on Jupiter, I’m not even saying there could be life there because it will need nutrients, and we can’t be sure they have them,” Holsworth told reporters. “But the discovery is insightful and exciting, completely unexpected,” he said.
