Mysterious molecule found on brown dwarf casts further doubt on potential signs of life on Venus

By Laura McKemmish, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney

Brown dwarfs: too small to be stars, too big to be planets.

Only discovered in the 1990s, these in-between cosmic objects aren’t big enough to burn as hot and bright as a true star, instead usually giving off a warm dim glow.

In new research published today in Science, a team of astronomers report the detection of a surprising substance in a brown dwarf known as Wolf 1130C: a chemical called phosphine, which has been the focus of controversial claims for evidence…

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