By Professor Paul Ewart
It wasn’t exactly a message from ‘little green men’, but the signal from Venus, observed by some scientists recently, has caused quite a stir in the scientific community and the press!
So what did the scientists see and what does it mean?
What they saw was a slight ‘dip’ in the intensity of radiation from the atmosphere of Venus at a particular wavelength that could only be caused by the presence of phosphine gas. When we look at an object we see light that has a range of wavelengths covering the well-known visible rainbow spectrum from violet to red. The wavelengths longer than red are invisible – infra-red radiation – and are longer than about one millionth of a metre, but can be detected using special sensors.
Phosphine’s fingerprint
The radiation detected from Venus had a wavelength around one thousandth of a metre i.e. one millimetre, and the detectors showed that one precise wavelength was being absorbed by something in the Venusian atmosphere.
Every kind of molecule absorbs a distinctive and unique set of wavelengths that provides a ‘fingerprint’ that identifies that specific substance. The absorption ‘dip’ seen in the spectrum from Venus corresponded only to phosphine, a molecule containing a phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms.
The signal told the scientists not only that phosphine was present, but also how much was there and where it was in the atmosphere. It was a surprise to find the phosphine in the first place, but even more to find it in relatively large concentrations. Since phosphine would be destroyed in the harsh atmosphere of Venus, which contains a lot of sulphuric acid, its presence means that there must be a source continually producing it.
Biological process
This is where it gets exciting, because, here on earth, phosphine is produced by biological processes. The only known mechanism for producing phosphine, in the quantities observed on Venus, would be some kind of microbes – a form of life. The scientists are humble enough to report that they are not claiming definite proof of life on Venus but, so far, this is their best explanation for the signal they observe.
This is an important discovery, for it provides another way for astrobiologists to look for life on planets in other parts of the universe, the so-called exoplanets. It is also another piece of evidence in the search for understanding the origin of life on earth and elsewhere.
As Christians we can celebrate this further advance in our understanding of God’s creation. The origin of life is one of the great unsolved mysteries and this discovery is a step, albeit a small one, on the way to discovering how God did it.
Implications
But what are the implications for Christian faith? For some, this – and other scientific discoveries – may pose a threat to our sense of being a special part of creation. Some atheist scientists have argued that life, and our existence on planet Earth, is a random accidental blip on the face of a vast meaningless universe. Life is so rare that its accidental occurrence is insignificant. Other atheist arguments would have us believe that there are so many galaxies, stars and planets that life must exist in many places. Life, therefore, is so common as to be nothing special and therefore insignificant.
Our loving creator
Both of these arguments can’t be true! For the Christian however, and especially a scientifically well-informed Christian, both these arguments carry no weight at all. Our significance does not rest upon whether life is common or rare, but on the fact we are created by one who loves us and is concerned about the life of each man, woman and child on earth.
In C. S. Lewis’s novel, Voyage to Venus, the hero, Ransom, finds a pristine world untainted by a ‘Fall’ such as blights life on earth. One moral of the book is surely that the real challenge to faith comes, not from increase in knowledge, but from the corrupting power that knowledge gives. So let us give thanks for God’s gift of science, the knowledge it gives and the awe-inspiring vision it gives of the Creator’s power and wisdom. Just as Ransom faced the threat of evil infecting Venus, a real challenge for humans here on earth is, with God’s help, to battle evil and to counter the misuse of science.
