It is not a twin planet: Venus was never habitable, says new study

A new study sheds some additional light on the hellscape that is Venus.

Venus is a planet so similar to Earth in size and composition that it has often been referred to as the Earth’s sister planet. It has also often been the subject of conjecture.

Could Venus have supported life? Did it ever contain liquid water?

According to , now, a study conducted by the University of Cambridge has put the brakes on those who defended the “once like Earth” theory.

It is likely that the second planet has always been a barren and inhospitable hellscape.

The study in the magazine Nature Astronomy reveals that the interior of Venus is too dry to have been able to support liquid water at any stage of its existence. Examining the volcanic activity and atmospheric chemistry of Venus, researchers have determined that the planet was shaped by a relentless desiccation process that began early in its formation.

The study focused on Venus’ volcanism, a key to understanding its internal composition. Here on Earth, volcanic eruptions are rich in water vapor, reflecting a water-laden mantle. On Venus, however, the composition of volcanic gases tells a different story.

The study found that these emissions contain, at most, six percent water. This vapor is so low that it points to a water-poor interior.

“Despite being the closest planet to us, Venus is important for exoplanet science because it gives us a unique opportunity to explore a planet that evolved very differently from ours, right on the edge of the habitable zone,” said the first author Tereza ConstantinouPhD student at the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy.

This discovery sheds light on a long-standing debate about the history of . Some scientists argue that Venus may have started with Earth-like conditions when it formed around 4.6 billion years ago.

These conditions included shallow oceans and a temperate climate, before massive volcanic activity triggered a runaway greenhouse effect. Others suggest that Venus was born too hot for water to condense, leaving it parched from the start.

The data from Constantinou’s team is in line with the second theory. It is likely that Venus began as a molten planet surrounded by a thick atmosphere of vapor. As time passes, ohintense solar radiation removed hydrogen from the atmosphereleaving behind a barren and uninhabitable land.

The results of the study could also help in the search for exoplanets — and even extraterrestrial life. Many rocky worlds orbiting other stars share characteristics with our sister planet, particularly those near their star’s inner habitable zone.

If Venus’s history is typical of such planets, its potential for support life may be much shorter than previously thought. This would overturn the hypothesis that planets elsewhere in the Universe, such as Venus, could currently, or once had, life as we know it.

“If Venus was habitable in the past, that means other planets we have already found could also be habitable,” Constantinou said. “But if Venus was never habitable, that makes Venus-like planets elsewhere less likely candidates for habitable conditions or life.”

The next NASA DAVINCI mission will soon offer a closer look at Venus, exploring the planet’s atmosphere and surface. Hopefully, the mission will be able to confirm whether the absence of water and life on Venus was as complete and early as the study suggests.

“We won’t know for sure whether or not Venus can support life until we send probes later this decade,” Constantinou said. “But given that it probably never had oceans, it is difficult to imagine that Venus ever supported life similar to Earth, which requires liquid water.”

The hottest planet in the solar system remains a planetary paradox — similar enough to Earth to invite comparisons, but extremely different in its trajectory.

By understanding Venus’s past, astronomers can improve. its criteria for identifying planets that could support life, helping to focus efforts on the most promising candidates.

Venus, despite being sterile, remains a important piece of the great puzzle of planetary science.

“We would have loved to discover that Venus was once a planet much closer to ours, so it’s a little sad to discover that it wasn’t, but ultimately it’s more useful to focus the search on planets that are more likely to support life — at least less less, life as we know it,” Constantinou said.