Scientists have found a gas linked to life in the clouds of Venus, in what has been described as an astonishing discovery.

Planetary astrophysicist at Astronomy Australia, Dr Lucyna Kedziora, told Deborah Knight she was “very excited” by the discovery of phosphine.

“Phosphine is actually associated with the presence of life on earth,” she said.

“Is there life on Venus as well? We will have to explore it a bit further.”

Dr Kedziora said scientists will be scrambling for more answers after the discovery.

“It will be great if we can send something which can measure the abundance of the potentially biologically-produced molecules, and give us more information,” she said.

“Definitely I think there will be a lot of interest in this.

“I think all the astro biologists are jumping in their seats and would like to be part of that.”

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Image: Getty