NCIE
NCIE
Scientists have discovered molecular oxygen in the atmosphere of Venus
The air on Venus is corrosive and hot enough to melt lead. Its rising clouds are poisonous to humans. Sometimes there is acid rain. But recently, researchers have discovered that this inhospitable atmosphere between layers of toxic gas contains a thin layer of molecular oxygen.
The new measurements come courtesy of NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 aircraft that the agency has equipped with a 2.7-meter infrared telescope. A team of German astrophysicists examined the SOFIA data, focusing on 17 positions in Venus' atmosphere on both the day and night sides of the planet. They found molecular oxygen in all of them, a gas made up of unbonded oxygen atoms.
But that doesn't mean astronauts will be able to breathe oxygen on Venus the way they do on Earth. Molecular oxygen is different from the oxygen we breathe on our planet; respiratory oxygen is composed of two oxygen atoms bonded together to form an O2 molecule, molecular oxygen is a mixture of free-floating single oxygen atoms. If we tried to inhale it, it would react very easily with our lung tissue and not enter our bloodstream.
Oxygen has previously been observed on the night side of Venus, but this is the first time researchers have detected it in daylight locations. Researchers suspect that molecular oxygen builds up when the sun's heat breaks down carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide molecules. Winds high in the atmosphere then transport it to the night side of the planet, where free oxygen atoms gradually interact with other elements.
A layer of molecular oxygen also likely has a slight cooling effect on Venus' upper atmosphere. This modest cooling isn't enough to offset the planet's vanishing greenhouse effect, but it hints at a more pleasant past for Venus.
