Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere

Abreu, Jennifer J.; Anchordoqui, Alyxander R.; Fosu, Nyamekye J.; Kwakye, Michael G.; Kyriakakis, Danijela; Reynoso, Krystal; Anchordoqui, Luis A.

doi:10.3390/galaxies13030048

This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.

Open AccessArticle

Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere

by

Jennifer J. Abreu

¹,

Alyxander R. Anchordoqui

²,

Nyamekye J. Fosu

¹,

Michael G. Kwakye

¹,

Danijela Kyriakakis

¹,

Krystal Reynoso

¹ and

Luis A. Anchordoqui

^1,3,4,*

¹

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lehman College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10468, USA

²

John F. Kennedy School, Somerville, MA 02144, USA

³

Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA

⁴

Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Galaxies 2025, 13(3), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13030048

Submission received: 25 February 2025 / Revised: 3 April 2025 / Accepted: 14 April 2025 / Published: 22 April 2025

Download Versions Notes

Abstract

Millimeter-waveband spectra of Venus from both the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) seem to indicate there may be evidence (signal-to-noise ratio of about \(15\sigma\)) of a phosphine absorption-line profile against the thermal background from deeper, hotter layers of the atmosphere. Phosphine is an important biomarker; e.g., the trace of phosphine in the Earth’s atmosphere is unequivocally associated with anthropogenic activity and microbial life (which produces this highly reducing gas even in an overall oxidizing environment). Motivated by the JCMT and ALMA tantalizing observations, we reexamine whether Venus could accommodate Earthly life. More concretely, we hypothesize that the microorganisms populating the Venusian atmosphere are not free floating but confined to the liquid environment inside cloud aerosols or droplets. Armed with this hypothesis, we generalize a study of airborne germ transmission to constrain the maximum size of droplets that could be floating in the Venusian atmosphere by demanding that their Stokes fallout times to reach moderately high temperatures are pronouncedly larger than the microbe’s replication time. We also comment on the effect of cosmic ray showers on the evolution of aerial microbial life.

Keywords: astrobiology; exolife; Venus

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Abreu, J.J.; Anchordoqui, A.R.; Fosu, N.J.; Kwakye, M.G.; Kyriakakis, D.; Reynoso, K.; Anchordoqui, L.A. Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere. Galaxies 2025, 13, 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13030048

AMA Style

Abreu JJ, Anchordoqui AR, Fosu NJ, Kwakye MG, Kyriakakis D, Reynoso K, Anchordoqui LA. Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere. Galaxies. 2025; 13(3):48. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13030048

Chicago/Turabian Style

Abreu, Jennifer J., Alyxander R. Anchordoqui, Nyamekye J. Fosu, Michael G. Kwakye, Danijela Kyriakakis, Krystal Reynoso, and Luis A. Anchordoqui. 2025. "Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere" Galaxies 13, no. 3: 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13030048

APA Style

Abreu, J. J., Anchordoqui, A. R., Fosu, N. J., Kwakye, M. G., Kyriakakis, D., Reynoso, K., & Anchordoqui, L. A. (2025). Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere. Galaxies, 13(3), 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13030048

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI