大象传媒

Venus is our nearest neighbour - but with an atmosphere of sulphuric acid and burning hot, it's not been top of the list of places in space to hunt for life.

But now telescopes have detected traces of phosphine, a molecule which we associate with life, in the atmosphere around the planet.

Professor Sara Seager from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was part of the team involved in this big reveal.

"I like to think of it as the neglected sibling. It's sometimes called Earth's sister planet but it hasn't received the kind of attention it deserves"

(Photo: An artistic impression of Venus from the European Southern Observatory. Credit: EPA)