研究表明，金星可能在数十亿年前就存在生命

研究表明，金星可能在数十亿年前就存在生命

Although it’s possible Mars once supported life, Earth is the only planet in the solar system currently known to do so. However, a new study notes that Venus may have been habitable for a few billion years — until something mysterious happened.

虽然火星可能曾经有生命存在，但地球是太阳系中目前已知的唯一有生命存在的行星。然而，一项新的研究指出，金星可能已经居住了几十亿年，直到神秘的事情发生。

The research, presented at the European Planetary Science Congress — Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2019, notes that Venus potentially had stable temperatures and was home to “liquid water” for 2 billion to 3 billion years, until a “dramatic transformation” started happening more than 700 million years ago that completely reshaped the planet and resurfaced approximately 80 percent of it.

这项研究在2019年欧洲行星科学大会-行星科学分部联席会议上发表，指出金星可能有稳定的温度，在20亿至30亿年内是“液态水”的发源地，直到7亿多年前一场“戏剧性的转变”，彻底重塑了这颗星球，并使大约80%的地面重新出现。

“Our hypothesis is that Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years. It is possible that the near-global resurfacing event is responsible for its transformation from an Earth-like climate to the hellish hot-house we see today,” said Dr. Michael Way, the study’s lead author, in a statement.

“我们的假设是，金星可能有一个存在了数十亿年稳定的气候。”这项研究的主要作者迈克尔·韦博士在一份声明中说:“这次近全球范围的重新浮出水面事件，很可能是导致它从类似地球的气候，转变为我们今天看到的地狱般的温室的原因。”

Coming back to the present day, Venus has a surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit. However, in the five outcomes that Way and the researchers ran for the study, they found that Venus was able to maintain stable temperature scenarios between minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) and 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately 3 billion years.

回到今天，金星的表面温度为864华氏度。然而，在研究人员进行这项研究的五个结果中，他们发现金星能够在零下20摄氏度(-4华氏度)到50摄氏度(122华氏度)之间保持稳定的温度，持续了大约30亿年。

Then something mysterious caused a mass explosion of carbon dioxide on the planet between 700 million and 750 million years ago, an event that Way believes could be linked to the volcanic activity on the planet.

然后，在7亿到7.5亿年前，某个神秘的东西导致了金星上二氧化碳的大规模爆炸，人们认为这一事件可能与金星上的火山活动有关。

“Something happened on Venus where a huge amount of gas was released into the atmosphere and couldn’t be re-absorbed by the rocks,” Way added.

“金星上发生了一些事情，大量的气体被释放到大气中，无法被岩石重新吸收。”韦博士补充道。

“On Earth, we have some examples of large-scale outgassing, for instance, the creation of the Siberian Traps 500 million years ago which is linked to a mass extinction, but nothing on this scale. It completely transformed Venus.”

“在地球上，我们有一些大规模放气的例子，例如，5亿年前西伯利亚圈闭的形成，这与大规模灭绝有关，但没有发生过如此大规模的放气,它彻底改变了金星。”

Venus is closer to the sun and its extreme surface temperature makes the existence of liquid water on the planet a moot point. But during the simulations, the researchers added an ocean 310 meters (1,017 feet) deep, one that was 10 meters (32 feet) deep, as well as putting some water in the soil.

金星离太阳更近，其极端的表面温度使得这颗行星上液态水的存在成为一个悬而未决的问题。但在模拟过程中，研究人员添加了一个310米(1017英尺)深的海洋，一个10米(32英尺)深的海洋，并在土壤中注入一些水。

There was also a scenario where they used Earth’s topography and the 1,017-foot-deep ocean, as well as a planet “completely covered” by an ocean 158 meters (518 feet) deep, and found that even though Venus is closer to the sun than the Earth, liquid water could have been present.

还有一个场景，他们利用地球的地形和1017英尺深的海洋，以及一颗被158米(518英尺)深的海洋“完全覆盖”的行星，发现即使金星比地球离太阳更近，也可能存在液态水。

“Venus currently has almost twice the solar radiation that we have at Earth,” said Way.

韦博士说:“金星目前的太阳辐射几乎是地球的两倍。”

“However, in all the scenarios we have modeled, we have found that Venus could still support surface temperatures amenable for liquid water.”

“然而，在我们所模拟的所有场景中，我们发现金星表面的温度仍然适合液态水。”

Whether it was the planet’s volcanic activity or something else, Venus is now too hot to be supportive of liquid water. Way said more research is needed to understand the planet’s history and how it might affect the search for exoplanets, including ones that may hold liquid water.

“无论是火星的火山活动还是其他原因，金星现在太热了，无法支持液态水的存在。”韦博士说，需要更多的研究来了解这颗行星的历史，以及它可能如何影响寻找系外行星，包括那些可能含有液态水的行星。

“We need more missions to study Venus and get a more detailed understanding of its history and evolution,” Way said.

韦博士说:“我们需要更多的任务来研究金星，更详细地了解它的历史和演变。”

“However, our models show that there is a real possibility that Venus could have been habitable and radically different from the Venus we see today. This opens up all kinds of implications for exoplanets found in what is called the ‘Venus Zone,’ which may, in fact, host liquid water and temperate climates.”

“然而，我们的模型显示，确实存在一种可能性，那就是金星可能是宜居的，而且与我们今天看到的金星截然不同。这为在所谓的‘金星带’中发现的系外行星提供了各种各样的线索。事实上，金星带可能存在液态水和温带气候。”

Earlier this month, scientists detected water vapor in the atmosphere of a “super-Earth” exoplanet with potentially habitable temperatures, K2-18b, 110 light-years from Earth.

本月早些时候，科学家在距地球110光年的一颗“超级地球”系外行星的大气层中,发现了水蒸气。