Enthusiasm over a Venusian compound associated with life has been quenched by a new study. It’s probably just sulfur dioxide, researchers now believe. A 3D perspective view of the surface of Venus. Image credits: NASA/JPL. Phosphine is a colorless, flammable, toxic gas compound — not something you’d be thrilled to see in most cases. But back in September, researchers got really excited about phosphine because it detected in the atmosphere of Venus. For all its toxicity, phosphine can be produced by life. Finding phosphine on the hellish Venus suggests that life could perhaps exist on Venus, which understandably made a lot of astronomers very curious.