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Sunlight and Clouds

2 October 2021
Astronomy

At https://phys.org/news/2021-09-sunlight-filtering-venus-clouds-earth-like… … sunlight filtering through the Venus thick atmosphere could support earth like photosynthesis in the cloud layers. Chemical conditions are potentially amenable to the growth of microorganisms. In a fascinating twist, the team found that photosynthesis could possibly continue through the night as well as the day. Light energy would be available, they say, from above and below the clouds and this might provide the means for life to thrive as both solar and thermal radiation in the clouds possesses wavelengths of light that can be absorbed by photosynthetic pigments found on earth.

This follows a recent paper debunking the idea of life in the clouds of Venus. They claimed the clouds were too dry to support terrestrial life. We may assume a good deal of modeling was involved.

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