9th April 2010
The planet Venus, the third brightest object in the night sky after the Sun and Moon. Earth’s “Evil twin”, a hellish world of runaway global warming, sulphuric acid clouds, and an atmospheric pressure that would feel like going a mile down under the sea.
This world that is similar to Earth in mass and size has over 5,000 volcanoes on it’s surface, more than any other planet in the solar system. Scientists have long thought that Venus is probably not volcanically active any more, although this has been the subject of debate. But the planet should really have more impact craters than it actually does, suggesting something is going on to wipe over them.
New heat data from one of these volcanoes, Idunn mons, in the Imdr Regio area of Venus shows tantalizing evidence of “recent” volcanism. The European Space Acency’s Venus Express Spacecraft has imaged this volcano with it’s Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS). The temperature overlay of the volcano clearly shows warmer areas than the surroundings, meaning volcanism relatively recently. This has also revealed different compositions in the rocks on this volcanic peak, meaning less weathering and a younger surface.
The red spot at the peak is a few degrees warmer than the surroundings suggesting hot stuff underneath. When I say recent I mean in the order of around 2.5 million years ago, but scientists think probably more recent than that too. This all means that our neighbour in space could still be capable of spewing lava out of it’s volcanoes.
