Alien Life On Venus

About

Alien Life On Venus refers to the news in mid-September 2020 that scientists found phosphine gas linked to life in the atmosphere of Venus. Following this discovery, a series of memes spawned in its wake describing the news across social media platforms and sites, typically referencing the confirmation of aliens or further adding to the discussion surrounding 2020’s apocalyptic events with an impending alien invasion.

Origin

On September 14th, 2020, researchers reported the findings in a pair of papers, published on Nature.com,^[1] stating that they had detected phosphine in Venus’ thick atmosphere, which was previously thought to be inhospitable. Although the report said the researchers had not collected specimens or taken photos of them, they asserted that something appeared to be alive due to the source of the chemical.

The news quickly hit several sites and platforms, including news outlets such as the New York Times^[2] and the Guardian.^[3] On Twitter,^[4] the event also reached the trending section of the site. Several memes referencing the potential of aliens from Venus also swept the web, including a tweet from Twitter^[5] user emilydoesastro on September 14th, 2020 (seen below), which received over 330 likes and 82 retweets in roughly 25 hours.

Spread

On September 14th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user LukeMones posted a Simpsons meme referencing the news (shown below, left), receiving over 572 likes in roughly 20 hours. Burger King’s official Twitter^[7] account also commented on the event later that day (shown below, right) receiving over 2,400 likes and 320 retweets in roughly 15 hours.

On Facebook,^[8] the Ancient Aliens page posted another meme on the story (seen below) with the caption “Microbes” on Venus? We’re not saying “I told you so,” but…" accumulating more than 9,100 likes and 2,000 shares in roughly 23 hours.

On September 14th, 2020, Reddit^[9] also began discussing or memeing the event on the platform, including a post to the /r/science subreddit by user blackswangreen, which received over 70,000 upvotes and 2,600 comments in 26 hours. Redditor^[10] RealSalsaDragon posted another meme example to the /r/memes sub later that night (shown below), receiving over 2,000 upvotes and 85 comments in five hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References