Volcanic Venus
Scientists have detected for the first time recent volcanic activity on Venus, the planet that is the most similar to Earth in terms of mass and density, but that has a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead.Knowing that Venus is volcanically active could shed light on the mysterious geological history of Earth’s sister planet, which does not have plate tectonics, meaning the planet’s surface does not evolve through a process of rigid plates slowly shifting across the underlying mantle. Because the runaway greenhouse effect, or the phenomenon that occurs when a planet absorbs more energy from the sun than it can radiate back, was first discovered on Venus, this finding could also lead to a better understanding of climate change in general and, more specifically, how gas emitted from volcanoes may affect a planet’s atmosphere.Although previous data suggested volcanic activity on Venus, it wasn’t until now that scientists were...