Pluto and Venus – another chance for life?

written by Ogunwumi Abimbola

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to live anywhere… aside from Earth. What would the weather feel like? The people? The food? Would there be homework on the new planet? Having no school would be a bonus. But so far, possibilities of finding another place where humans could survive have seemed pretty slim. Well, until we look at Pluto and Venus. These two beauties might be my ticket to no school and no more homework! 😉😬

Let’s take a look at Pluto.

It has a pretty thin atmosphere: mainly made up of carbon monoxide, methane, and nitrogen gas. Also, Pluto’s atmospheric pressure is about one million to ten thousand times less than Earth’s.

I could still see some hope for Pluto, till I learned this fact – it takes Pluto 248 years to go around the sun. Yes, you read that right – 248 years! 😱 By the time you celebrated your first birthday, you’ll already be 248 years old according to earth’s calculations.
There’s no way I’m going to wait 248 years to attend birthday parties. I love cakes!! 😋 And birthdays are the only place I can eat them guilt-free. So one less point for Pluto. 😏

Now let’s talk about the weather. As Pluto moves farther away from the sun, the atmosphere freezes solid. I don’t like the idea of freezing up in an iceberg like the Avatar, thank you very much! 😶 As it gets closer to the sun, the temperature increases and your new iceberg home would sublimate from ice to gaseous form. Basically, if the ice doesn’t kill you, your body moving through such intense temperatures rapidly ( because sublimation skips the liquid phase) will do the job, and essentially melt your brain away.

Pluto may not be habitable by any organism known at the moment, but that does not rule out the possibility, that there might be sneaky aliens, who enjoying the weather, having their birthdays every 248 years, and who might be freezing and thawing as the atmosphere fluctuates… I want to meet them one day 😜! You?

Let’s take a look at Venus. 

Ah, my dearest Venus, named after the Roman goddess of beauty! Hm, she might yet hold the key to no more schools and no more homework! 🕺💃 

The problem only… Venus doesn’t get hot, it roasts like barbecue at a temperature of hundreds of degrees. Plus, it is covered by clouds; and guess what those clouds contain?

Rain?
Ice cream?
Cakes?

You wish!😂 The only thing the clouds of Venus could think was smart enough to contain is sulfuric acid. Yep, hot acid that will burn your flesh away. It looks like it’s pretty corrosive up there. 🤔 As a result, this beautiful planet was constantly ignored while scientists looked at other planets.
Until now! Recently scientists detected a chemical known as phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus (through the use of powerful telescopes). Why does that phosphine seem so important? Because the only explanation as to how phosphine suddenly appeared there is that something very much ALIVE✌️ is present on our planet of beauty.

Venus may have been ignored for so long, but now it’s going to be her time to shine… 

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Next post – the short story Wise, Horny, and Wrong (absurdist, satire)