Volcanoes on Venus Might Be Erupting Right Now
Scientists have found signs of fresh flowing lava on Venus in decades-old data from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft
Evidence continues to assemble that Venus is more geologically active than previously thought.
Planetary scientists scouring decades-old data from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft have found signs of lava flows coming from two volcanoes on Venus that erupted in the early 1990s. That was when Magellan orbited the hellish world overhead.
This marks the second time scientists have identified direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus, suggesting the planet could be as geologically active as Earth, with volcanoes possibly spewing on its surface as you read this.
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Venus and Earth are nearly the same size and were showered with equal amounts of water billions of years ago. For this reason, many scientists wonder why Venus turned into a hellscape while our planet bloomed into a habitable orb. Studying Venus’ volcanic activity, which scientists suspect is driven by internal heat, may offer a window into the evolution of both planets.
The newly spotted lava flows appear to have oozed out from the western slopes of Sif Mons, a huge shield volcano, and Niobe Planitia, a relatively flat region home to many volcanoes. By referencing lava flows on Earth, scientists estimate Sif Mons’ eruption poured about 12 square miles (30 square kilometers) of rock, which is sufficient to fill 36,000 Olympic swimming pools. The Niobe Planitia eruption blasted lava that could fill 54,000 Olympic pools, NASA said in a statement. To put that into context, however, the 2022 eruption of Mauna…
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