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AstroKatie's profile
Katie Mack
Katie Mack
Katie Mack
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@AstroKatie

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Katie MackVerified account

@AstroKatie

Cosmologist, pilot, connoisseur of cosmic catastrophes. @TEDFellow. Author: "The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)". Personal account. She/her. Dr.

Raleigh, NC
astrokatie.com/book
Joined April 2009

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    Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

    💥 Life on Venus? 😮 Quick thread with links to more info. First, the press release from @RoyalAstroSoc: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/hints-life-venus … Short version: a molecule was detected in the atmosphere of Venus that MIGHT have been produced by life. (It's unclear how else to produce it there.)

    8:29 AM - 14 Sep 2020
    • 872 Retweets
    • 1,797 Likes
    • Jason Jones Anita Leirfall Camilo Lithium & Alchohol AllTheus Juri Smirnov 🦀🦀🦀🦀 Seth⚡️Storm Dr Nigel J. Marley
    35 replies 872 retweets 1,797 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        New York Times coverage by @shannonmstirone, @kchangnyt, & @overbye: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html … "High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life."

        2 replies 25 retweets 193 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        New Scientist coverage by @DownHereOnEarth: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254413-have-we-spotted-alien-life-floating-in-the-clouds-of-venus/ … "There are no known non-biological mechanisms of making the gas on Venus, so it may be being produced by alien microbes." [Paywalled article]

        1 reply 15 retweets 164 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Axios coverage by @mirikramer: https://www.axios.com/scientists-find-possible-hint-of-life-venus-7471e149-5656-4a2c-813c-219052708297.html … "Why it matters: Scientists have been musing about the possibility that life exists in Venus' temperate clouds for decades. If confirmed as a sign of life, the finding would open up a new era of science."

        1 reply 34 retweets 213 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Scientific American coverage by @adamspacemann: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/venus-might-host-life-new-discovery-suggests/ … "Although toxic to many organisms, the molecule has been singled out as a potentially unambiguous signature of life because it is so difficult to make through ordinary geological or atmospheric action."

        5 replies 32 retweets 205 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        National Geographic coverage by @nadiamdrake: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/possible-sign-of-life-found-on-venus-phosphine-gas/ … "the scientists who today announced sightings of this noxious gas in the Venusian atmosphere say it could be tantalizing—if controversial—evidence of life on the planet next door."

        1 reply 13 retweets 133 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Science News coverage by @astrolisa: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/phosphine-gas-found-venus-atmosphere-possible-sign-life … "If the discovery holds up, and if no other explanations for the gas are found, then the hellish planet next door could be the first to yield signs of extraterrestrial life — though those are very big ifs."

        1 reply 18 retweets 132 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Katie Mack Retweeted chrislintott

        Thread by @chrislintott with context and commentary on today's Venus announcement:https://twitter.com/chrislintott/status/1305521729662529536 …

        Katie Mack added,

        chrislintottVerified account @chrislintott
        A team led by @jgreaves6 have found what might be signs of life high in Venus' atmosphere. They have detected phospine, a gas which on Earth is produced only by life, in quantities they say are too large to be produced any other way. (1/17)
        Show this thread
        5 replies 43 retweets 205 likes
        Show this thread
      9. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Katie Mack Retweeted Dr. Jessie Christiansen

        Thread by @aussiastronomer with context and commentary on today's Venus announcement:https://twitter.com/aussiastronomer/status/1305523174155726849 …

        Katie Mack added,

        Dr. Jessie ChristiansenVerified account @aussiastronomer
        Okay, here's what I told folks who asked about the detection of phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus: If you give me the options of unknown chemistry, unknown geology, or unknown biology, then biology is always going to be a distant third behind the other two options.
        Show this thread
        1 reply 19 retweets 117 likes
        Show this thread
      10. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Katie Mack Retweeted Dr David L Clements

        A very brief summary of today's Venus announcement from @davecl42, one of the members of the discovery team:https://twitter.com/davecl42/status/1305523559427698688 …

        Katie Mack added,

        Dr David L Clements @davecl42
        Replying to @jr_pritchard
        We found the gas phosphine in the upper atmosphere. There is no known way this can be produced by normal chemical processes by lightening, volcanoes or asteroid impact in Venus. Life can & does produce it on Earth. So we have found evidence for unusual chemistry or maybe life.
        5 replies 64 retweets 235 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Katie Mack Retweeted Paul Byrne

        Venus researchers are, as you might imagine, excited about this! Here’s a comment from @ThePlanetaryGuy:https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy/status/1305528145492279301 …

        Katie Mack added,

        Paul Byrne @ThePlanetaryGuy
        Replying to @AstroKatie
        This detection of a biologically relevant gas in the #Venus atmosphere, at abundances that we don't have good explanations for abiotically, is in my view a bigger deal than the detection of methane at Mars. This is a *MASSIVELY* compelling reason to get back to Venus!!
        6 replies 32 retweets 216 likes
        Show this thread
      12. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Here’s a link to the press briefing on the possible Venus biosignature announcement from @RoyalAstroSoc featuring comment from several of the scientists involved, including @jgreaves6 and @ProfSaraSeager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1u-jlf_Olo … #VenusNews

        1 reply 10 retweets 114 likes
        Show this thread
      13. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        The Verge coverage by @lorengrush: https://www.theverge.com/21428796/venus-gas-life-sign-discovery-phosphine-biosignature … "The gas’s presence isn’t enough to say for sure that Venus hosts life forms, but the fact that it exists in the planet’s clouds indicates that something is going on there that we don’t fully understand."

        3 replies 57 retweets 268 likes
        Show this thread
      14. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Here's a link to the technical paper in @NatureAstronomy https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4 … (unpaywalled) "The presence of PH3 is unexplained...could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry, or, by analogy with biological production of PH3 on Earth, from the presence of life"

        4 replies 29 retweets 112 likes
        Show this thread
      15. Katie Mack‏Verified account @AstroKatie 14 Sep 2020

        Planetary Society coverage by @CaseyDreier: https://www.planetary.org/articles/venus-phosphine-biosignature … “This is the first announcement of a difficult detection that required significant modeling and data analysis… Independent scientific teams must now do the work to confirm this signal.”

        1 reply 23 retweets 95 likes
        Show this thread
      16. End of conversation

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