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Good morning. The observation of small quantities of phosphine gas on Venus, has led to vigorous scientific discussion alongside media headlines of our neighbours being aliens living in clouds. The international team of astronomers using telescopes collected and interpreted the data but also had to consider whether this amount of gas could be produced by mechanisms other than by microbial life – and all of this has to be assessed by the rest of the scientific community. As our nearest neighbour, Venus has been an object of beauty and fascination in astronomy, mythology and science fiction. As it was shrouded in clouds, this encouraged the belief that it might have inhabitants. Yet as more observations were gathered, its hellish surface temperature and pressure led to many discounting it as a likely place for ET. But the discovery of new data can surprise us and raise profound questions. Professor Jane Greaves of Cardiff University who led the team who observed the phosphine called it a real shock. Venus has a habit of shocking questions. In 1610, Galileo’s observations of the phases of Venus became part of his argument for the Copernican view of the Universe. The controversy that followed not only questioned Aristotle’s view that the Earth was at the centre of everything but also the importance of observation in understanding God and the universe. Indeed, Tommaso Caccini attacked Galileo with a clever word play on a biblical verse, ‘You man of Galilee, why are you gazing up into heaven?’ Galileo was bringing in an era where the world was not to be understood primarily by philosophical speculation but by empirical observation. He was convinced that as God had freedom to create, unbound by human logic and expectations, then the only way to discover what God had done was to observe it – even if this meant upsetting the odd Pope. So as a Christian I want to be enthusiastic about scientific observations and the way they challenge my self-centred view of the world. The observations from Venus may tell me that the universe is richer in diversity and God more extravagant in creation than I ever imagined. At the same time on this planet I don’t want to ignore or dismiss the facts of the way humans are causing climate change or reducing biodiversity as so graphically illustrated by yesterday’s UN’s Global Biodiversity report. I thank God for all scientific research however challenging or uncomfortable that it might be.