A longstanding theory has held that Venus was once habitable in the distant past, but new research runs contrary to that popular idea.
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00:00Scientists are pouring cold water on the idea that Venus could once have supported life.
00:05Now, this disappointing news emerged from the fact that it appears water oceans could have never existed on the surface of our neighboring planet.
00:14Venus is often referred to as Earth's evil twin because despite it being a virtual hellscape today,
00:20it is believed that our neighbor was much more like our planet in its ancient past.
00:25Now, this new research suggests that Venus was always a hellish planet.
00:29And despite its similar mass and distance from the Sun to the Earth, it was never a twin to our planet in life-sustaining respects.
00:37Now, these findings are the work of a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge,
00:41and they arrived at their conclusions by examining the chemical composition of the atmosphere there on Venus.
00:47Now, this research could have implications beyond just our solar system.
00:51These findings could assist astronomers in selecting exoplanets most likely to be habitable.
00:57Now, currently Venus has a scorching hot surface temperature of around, get this, 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:04That's also 500 degrees Celsius.
01:06And that temperature, the surface of Venus, that is hot enough to melt lead.
01:11And if that weren't intimidating enough, the second planet from the Sun also has clouds of sulfuric acid.
01:18Now, despite these extreme conditions, many scientists theorize that Venus may have been habitable billions of years ago.
01:25Much of the investigation into this question has focused on water, which we understand is the key ingredient for life.
01:32And there are two primary concepts of how Venus could have evolved over the last 4.6 billion years.
01:38One idea suggests that the planet was once enough cool, or once cool enough, to host liquid water.
01:44Stay right here with IQWeather ahead. We'll have more updates coming up right after this break.
01:48Stay tuned.