We are gaining knowledge about Venus, a high-pressure planet
JSC/NASA
There is compelling evidence that vast underground tunnels have been formed from lava on Venus. These formations are unusually wide and distinct from those found on other celestial bodies.
It is generally accepted that underground tunnels, carved through lava, exist as lava tubes on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Smaller, low-gravity planets tend to develop more porous tubes as their rocky walls are less susceptible to collapse due to weaker gravity. For instance, the Moon has such large tubes that scientists have proposed utilizing them as habitats for astronauts, shielding them from intense solar winds.
Researchers have observed indications of these lava tubes on Venus, evident from surface holes that may have been formed by the underground features or by other geological activities associated with its active fault lines.
Recently, Barbara de Tofoli from the University of Padova in Italy along with her colleagues uncovered direct evidence of these lava tubes on Venus. Remarkably, despite Venus’s similarities to Earth regarding its mass and gravity, its lava tubes appear to be surprisingly wide, with a volume comparable to those found on the Moon.
“While Earth has a small number of lava tubes, Mars has a slightly larger count, and the Moon has even more. Venus disrupts this trend by featuring incredibly large tubes, indicating its potential significance,” she stated at the Europlanet Science Congress in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this month.
De Tofoli and her team used radar and mapping data from previous missions to examine the alignment of these pits near large volcanoes. They identified four distinct sites where alternative geological explanations, such as structural activities, were implausible. The pits were also found to align with the steepest sections of volcanic slopes, consistent with the movement of lava. Their depth-to-width ratio corresponded with known lava tubes.
The unexpectedly large size of these tubes, especially their width, implies that the extreme conditions on Venus, characterized by high temperatures and pressure, can influence the movement of molten rock beneath the surface. “Due to the extremely high pressure, the floor of these tubes is not eroded as intensely as it typically is on other planets; instead, it remains largely flat throughout the tube.”
Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in our solar system. Geologists suggest that the geological activity on Venus today mirrors that of Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after Earth’s formation. The Ishtartera Highlands of Venus is a vast region comparable in size to Australia, marked by a rich crust and encircled by a long mountain range that reaches approximately 10 km (or 6 miles) in height, rising about 4 km (or 2.5 miles) above Venus’ surface. These highlands bear a resemblance to the Tibetan Plateau, the planet’s largest plateau, standing roughly 4.5 km (or 3 miles) high and spanning about 2.5 million square kilometers (or 1 million square miles).
While the Tibetan Plateau and the Ishtar Terra Highlands exhibit similar topographical features, researchers suspect that their formation processes differ significantly. Evidence suggests that the Tibetan Plateau emerged from the collision of tectonic plates on Earth, whereas Venus lacks a structured plate system. An examination of the geophysical aspects of the Ishtar Highlands revealed that it is underpinned by buoyant rocks. Scientists theorize that this buoyant rock could be remnants from the magmatic processes that formed the thick crust, though this remains uncertain. Understanding how Venus’ highlands formed is crucial for gaining insights into the evolution and transformation of rocky planets like Earth.
Previous research has primarily concentrated on Venus’ magmatism or structural dynamics to elucidate the development of the highlands, yet no models have effectively integrated these processes. Fabio Capitanio and his colleagues sought to create such a model. Geodynamic model.
To evaluate the large-scale processes responsible for the formation of the Ishtar Highlands, the team employed a geodynamic model that had previously simulated the formation of Earth’s thick crust. This model, known as a 3D Cartesian Model, was modified to cover an area of 3,650 x 3,650 km (or 2,268 x 2,268 miles) and extend 730 km (or 453 miles) deep, approximating the characteristics of the Ishtar Highlands.
The parameters for each model, including density and viscosity, were based on Earth’s conditions but adjusted for Venus’ higher surface temperature, which is around 450°C or 840°F. They executed 34 simulations of the Ishtar Highlands over a billion years, tracking changes in elevation, gravity characteristics, and temperature over time. This modeling successfully replicated the altitude and gravitational features observed in the Ishtar Highlands.
Subsequently, the team analyzed various model outcomes to identify how these features evolved over time. They determined that the most accurate simulations of Venus’ highlands corresponded to the outermost layer of the planet’s structure, known as the lithosphere, which is estimated to be 10 to 50 times thicker than that of Earth. In this model, extremely hot rocks from within the planet rise, resulting in a gradually thinner lithosphere.
The team clarified that as the strong lithosphere of Earth stretches, it can create slight openings, leading to the formation of volcanoes that release small amounts of lava on the surface. In contrast, as Venus’ weaker lithosphere stretches, it can fracture over much larger areas. When the lithosphere breaks apart, the rock that has accumulated pressure melts and rises to the surface, converting into magma.
The researchers proposed that this stretching and melting scenario could account for the formation of the Ishtar Highlands on Venus. Once the magma in this region solidifies, it forms a new, very thick crust. Unlike the current lithosphere, this new crust behaves like putty, making it challenging to move.
The team suggested that this scenario may clarify the presence of buoyant rocks beneath the Ishtar Highlands. The newly formed crust supports deeper rocks within the thickened Venus, resulting in a higher elevation for the crust. Meanwhile, the older lithosphere, having fractured, compresses the surface of Venus and its surrounding rocks. They postulated that the uplift associated with this process could be responsible for the long mountain range found at the periphery of the Ishtar Highlands.
In conclusion, the researchers indicated that the disintegration of the weak lithosphere and the melting of subsurface rock contributed to the formation of Venus’ highlands. Other highlands on Venus might have developed through similar processes. While the modern plateau on Earth formed differently from the Ishtar Highlands, it supports the idea that early Earth, with its hotter and weaker lithospheres, shares similarities with Venus.
Often referred to as the Earth’s “twin planet,” Venus presents a stark contrast in surface conditions, atmospheric composition, and structural characteristics. Gaining insight into the internal mechanisms that shape Venus’s surface remains a key objective in planetary science.
An artist’s impression of a volcanic eruption on Venus. Image credit: ESA/AOES Mediaab.
The Earth’s surface is perpetually reshaped through the continual movement and recycling of vast sections of the crust, known as tectonic plates, which float above the viscous mantle.
Unlike Earth, Venus lacks tectonic plates, but its surface is still influenced by molten material rising from beneath.
To better comprehend the processes underlying these transformations, scientists have examined structures known as corona.
With sizes ranging from dozens to hundreds of kilometers, coronae are primarily formed where hot, buoyant mantle material ascends and pushes against the lithosphere above.
These features generally exhibit an oval shape and are surrounded by a concentric fracturing pattern.
Researchers estimate that hundreds of coronae are present on Venus.
Utilizing archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission, Dr. Gael Cascioli from the University of Maryland and colleagues identified signs of surface or subsurface activity that significantly shaped many of Venus’s coronae.
“Coronae are not observable on Earth today. However, it is conceivable that our planet’s early history included formations before the advent of plate tectonics,” stated a recent paper published in the journal Advances in Science.
“By integrating gravity and topographical data, this research has provided critical new insights into the subterranean processes that likely continue to influence Venus’s surface today.”
Launched in 1989, Magellan employed a radar system to penetrate Venus’s dense atmosphere and create detailed maps of its mountainous and plain terrains.
Among the various geological features mapped, coronae were notably enigmatic, with their formation remaining initially unclear.
Since then, planetary scientists have detected numerous coronae in regions where the lithosphere is thin and geothermal activity is high.
“Coronae are plentiful on Venus, representing significant features, and over the years, multiple theories have been proposed concerning their formation,” remarked Dr. Anna Gürcher, a researcher at the University of Bern.
“The exciting aspect of our research is that we can now assert that ongoing activity processes driving their formation are highly probable.”
“We hypothesize that similar processes may have also taken place early in Earth’s history.”
Researchers have developed advanced 3D geodynamic models illustrating different scenarios for the formation of plume-induced coronae, which were then compared with Magellan’s gravity and topographic data.
Gravity data has proven instrumental in enabling researchers to detect low-density regions below the surface and identify buoyant structures at elevated temperatures, something that topographical data alone cannot reveal.
Of the 75 coronae analyzed, 52 exhibited buoyant mantle materials beneath them, suggesting potential for significant structural processes.
One critical process is subduction. On Earth, this occurs when one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another.
Friction between plates can induce earthquakes, and as older rocky material descends into the hotter mantle, those rocks melt and re-emerge at the surface through volcanic activity.
On Venus, various forms of subduction are suspected to happen around several coronae.
In this context, hot rock buoyancy within the mantle forces material into the lithosphere, resulting in surface material rising and spreading outward, colliding with surrounding areas and pushing some material back down into the mantle.
Additionally, another structural process known as lithosphere drip may exist, with denser cold materials sinking from the lithosphere into the heated mantle below.
Several locations have also been identified where a third process might be occurring, where molten rock plumes beneath thicker areas of the lithosphere could potentially drive volcanic activity above.
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Frog Casioli et al. 2025. Spectra of structural processes in Venus’ coronae revealed by gravity and topography. Advances in Science 11 (20); doi:10.1126/sciadv.adt5932
Planetary scientists initially believed that Earth’s outer crust would become thicker over time, particularly due to the perceived absence of forces pushing it back into the planet’s interior. However, researchers from Open University, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the Lunar and Planetary Institute suggest that processes involved in crustal transformation, centered around rock density and melting cycles, offer a different perspective.
An artistic interpretation of active volcanoes on Venus illustrates a subduction zone where the foreground crust of a topographical groove descends into the planet’s interior. Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Peter Rubin.
The earth’s crust is rock-like and composed of massive, slowly migrating plates that fold and create faults through a process known as plate tectonics.
For instance, when two plates collide, a lighter plate can slide over a denser plate, forcing it downward towards the underlying mantle.
This phenomenon, referred to as subduction, plays a crucial role in regulating the thickness of the Earth’s crust.
As the rocks penetrate deeper into the planet’s interior, they undergo transformations due to increased temperature and pressure, a process known as metamorphosis, which is one contributing factor to volcanic activity.
“Conversely, Venus consists of a singular skin with no signs of subduction seen in Earth’s plate tectonics,” noted Justin Filibert, PhD, associate director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center for Astromaterial Research and Exploration Sciences.
Through modeling, Dr. Filibert and his team found that Venus’s crust averages about 40 km (25 miles) thick, with some areas reaching up to 65 km (40 miles).
“This is surprisingly thin compared to Earth’s conditions,” Dr. Filibert remarked.
“Our model suggests that as the crust thickens, it becomes so dense at the bottom that it either breaks off to merge with the mantle or heats up enough to melt.”
“Thus, while Venus lacks movable plates, its crust still goes through metamorphosis.”
“This finding marks a significant advancement in understanding geological processes and planetary evolution.”
“The breaking and melting of crustal materials can reintroduce water and elements back into the planet’s interior, fueling volcanic activity.”
“We are developing a new model for how materials are recycled within the planet, providing insights into the processes that can trigger volcanic eruptions of lava and gases.”
“It reshapes our understanding of how Venus’ geology, crust, and atmosphere interact.”
“The forthcoming phase involves gathering direct data on Venus’s crust to test and refine these models.”
“The extent of volcanic activity on Venus remains uncertain.”
“While we postulate numerous volcanic phenomena, research indicates a need for extensive data to validate our assumptions.”
J. Semprich et al. 2025. The thickness of the earth’s crust and the transformation of Venus as a driver for recycling. Nat Commun 16, 2905; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-58324-1
A Soviet-era spaceship aims to land on Venus, with plans for it to return to Earth in the near future.
Currently, it is uncertain where the mass of half-ton metal will descend and how much will survive the journey. Experts are monitoring space debris.
Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek estimates that the spacecraft may re-enter Earth’s atmosphere around May 10th.
“There are risks involved, but there’s no need for excessive concern,” Langbroek stated in an email.
The object is relatively small, and even if it remains intact, the likelihood of it causing damage is similar to that of encountering a random meteorite fall, which occurs annually. “The chance of being struck by lightning in your lifetime is far greater,” he added.
He also mentioned that the spacecraft could potentially impact someone or something; however, this scenario cannot be entirely dismissed.
The Soviet Union sent the spacecraft, known as Cosmos 482, into orbit in 1972 as part of its Venus mission series. It never successfully launched from Earth orbit due to a rocket malfunction.
Most of its counterparts fell back within a decade, yet Langbroek and others believe the landing capsule, a spherical object about three feet (1 meter) in diameter, has been in a highly elliptical orbit for the past 53 years, gradually descending.
There is a substantial possibility that the over 1,000-pound (approximately 500 kilograms) spacecraft could endure re-entry. It was designed to withstand the harsh conditions of Venus’ atmosphere, which is thick with carbon dioxide, according to Langbroek from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Experts are skeptical about the longevity of its parachute system. Additionally, heat shields might have deteriorated over extended periods in orbit.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory mentioned in an email that while the spacecraft would benefit from an intact heat shield, if it manages to re-enter successfully, “a half-ton metal object will be falling from the sky.”
The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 51.7°N and 51.7°S, passing near London, Edmonton, Alberta, and Cape Horn, South America. However, given that much of the Earth is covered by water, “the chances are favorable.”
It is called an unexpected phenomenon Convection It helps to explain many of the other features of the volcano and Venus landscape.
The artist’s impression is that a volcano erupts on Venus. Image credit: ESA/AOES Mediaab.
The University of Washington, Professor Slava Solomatov of St. Louis, said:
“Our calculations suggest that convection is possible and likely is likely. If so, it gives us new insight into the evolution of the planet.”
Convection occurs when the heated material rises towards the surface of the planet, and the cold material sinks, creating a constant conveyor belt.
On Earth, convection deep in the mantle provides the energy that drives plate tectonics.
The Earth’s crust, about 40 km thick on the continent and 6 km in the sea basin, is too thin to cool and cannot support convection.
However, Professor Solomatov and his colleague Dr. Chabi Jain of St. Louis suspected that Venus’ crust had a proper thickness (probably 30-90 km, and in some places 30-90 km), temperature and rock composition.
To confirm this possibility, researchers applied a new theory of fluid dynamics developed in the lab.
Their calculations suggested that Venus’ crust could indeed support convection. This is a whole new way of thinking about the geology of planetary surfaces.
In 2024, scientists used a similar approach to determine that convection would likely not occur in the mercury mantle. Because the planet is too small and has been cooled quite a bit since it formed 4.5 billion years ago.
Venus, on the other hand, is a hot planet both inside and outside. The surface temperature reaches 465 degrees Celsius (870 degrees Fahrenheit), and its volcano and other surface features show clear signs of melting.
Scientists have been wondering how heat from the interior of the earth is transferred to the surface.
“Crustal convection can be an important missing mechanism,” Professor Solomatov said.
“Convection near the surface can also affect the type and placement of volcanoes on Venus’ surface.”
The author hopes that future missions to Venus can provide more detailed data on crust density and temperature.
If convection occurs as expected, some areas of the crust must be warmer and less dense than others. This is a difference that can be detected using high-resolution gravity measurements.
But perhaps an even more interesting target is Plput, a frozen dwarf planet outside the solar system.
Images from NASA’s New Horizons mission revealed a prominent polygonal pattern in the Sputnik Planitia region of Pltune, which resembles the plate boundary on Earth.
These polygons are formed by the slow convection current in a 4-km thick layer of solid nitrogen ice.
“Pluto is probably the second planetary body in the non-Earth solar system, and the convection driving tectonics is clearly visible on the surface,” Professor Solomatov said.
“It’s an attractive system that we still need to understand.”
result Published in the journal Physics of the interior of Earth and Planets.
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Viatcheslav S. Solomatov & Chhavi Jain. 2025. The possibility of convection in the Venus crust. Earth and Planet Physics 361:107332; doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2025.107332
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) captured on December 31, 2024 using the telescope at Rio Hurtado, Chile
lionel magic
A comet that has surprised astronomers could shine as brightly as Venus in the night sky as it passes Earth in the coming days.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was discovered by NASA’s Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System more than 600 million kilometers from Earth in April last year. Astronomers initially thought that the comet would not be able to survive in an orbit so close to the Sun, but subsequent observations showed that the comet was following a different path that would allow it to survive, possibly reaching Earth. It has been suggested that it may even be possible to remain unharmed until the approach of
This new orbit, which takes 160,000 years to complete, will mean the comet will snake its way through the solar system, making it visible to stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere. But for the last part of its journey around the sun, people in the northern hemisphere should also be mostly visible through binoculars.
Observations since the new orbit was proposed have shown the comet to be brighter than expected, which could mean it is breaking up as it approaches the sun. However, the latest observations show that the brightness persists and even increases, which would not be the case if the comet disintegrated.
If C/2024 G3 survives, it could appear very bright in the night sky, with some astronomers predicting its brightness could rival that of Venus, making it one of the brightest comets in decades. I’m doing it.
However, the comet’s exact brightness is unknown. It may be far enough away that it reflects the sunlight and is clearly visible, or it may be washed away by the sunlight and become invisible.
Astronomers have also suggested a phenomenon called forward scatter, where dust from the comet makes it appear brighter than normal, but meteorologist Joe Rao said that’s unlikely. space dot com.
If a comet shines brightly, it will probably reach its maximum level around the time of its closest approach to the Sun. The Central Astronomical Telegraph Office, which aggregates observations from astronomers around the world, predicts that this will occur on January 13 at 10:17 a.m. GMT, with the comet’s closest approach to Earth occurring several hours later. are.
This equates to an approximately three-day viewing period from January 12 to 14 for people in the Northern Hemisphere hoping to catch a glimpse of the comet if it’s bright enough. For people in areas such as the United States and Europe, the best time to see the comet is about 30 minutes before sunrise on January 12, when it should be visible through binoculars about 5 degrees from the sun or directly above the horizon. You should get a second chance around 30 minutes after sunset on January 14th.
Planetary researcher Tereza Konstantinou and colleagues at the University of Cambridge examined the chemical composition of Venus’s atmosphere and found that the planet’s interior today is too dry to support oceans on its surface. I reasoned that it wasn’t. Rather, Venus is thought to have been a scorching and harsh world throughout its history.
This composite image taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.
From a distance, Venus and Earth look like siblings. It is a rocky planet, about the same size as Earth.
But up close, Venus is more like its evil twin. Venus is covered in thick clouds of sulfuric acid, and its surface has an average temperature of nearly 500 degrees Celsius.
Despite these extreme conditions, astronomers have wondered for decades whether Venus once had a liquid ocean capable of supporting life, or whether some mysterious form is now hidden within its thick clouds. I have been investigating whether there are “airborne” life forms.
“Until we send a probe at the end of this decade, we won’t know if Venus could support life, or if it actually could support life,” Constantineau said.
“However, given that Venus likely did not have an ocean, it is unlikely that Venus could have supported Earth-like life that required liquid water.”
When looking for life elsewhere in the galaxy, astronomers focus on planets orbiting their host stars within the habitable zone. There, temperatures are such that liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface.
Venus provides strong constraints on where this habitable zone exists around the star.
“Despite being our closest planet, Venus is important for exoplanet science because it allows us to explore planets at the edge of the habitable zone that have evolved quite differently than us. Because it gives us a unique opportunity,” Constantinou said.
A dichotomous climate pathway for Venus is proposed. Image credit: Konstantinou others., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02414-5.
There are two main theories about how conditions on Venus have evolved since its formation 4.6 billion years ago.
First, surface conditions on Venus were once warm enough for liquid water to exist, but a runaway greenhouse effect caused by widespread volcanic activity has caused Venus to become increasingly hot. is.
The second theory is that Venus was born at such a high temperature that liquid water could not condense on its surface.
“Both of these theories are based on climate models, but we wanted to take a different approach based on observations of Venus’s current atmospheric chemistry,” Constantinou said.
“To keep Venus’s atmosphere stable, the chemicals that are removed from the atmosphere must also be replaced, because the interior and exterior of Venus are constantly in chemical communication with each other.”
The researchers calculated the current rate of destruction of water, carbon dioxide, and carbonyl sulfide molecules in Venus’s atmosphere, which must be repaired by volcanic gases to keep the atmosphere stable.
Volcanic activity provides a window into the interiors of rocky planets like Venus through the supply of gases into the atmosphere.
As magma rises from the mantle to the surface, it releases gases from deep within the planet.
Since the Earth’s interior is rich in water, volcanic eruptions on Earth produce mostly water vapor.
However, based on the composition of the volcanic gases needed to maintain Venus’s atmosphere, scientists have found that Venus’s volcanic gases are at most 6% water.
These dry eruptions suggest that Venus’s interior, the source of the magma that releases volcanic gases, is also dry.
By the end of this decade, NASA’s DAVINCI mission will be able to test and confirm whether Venus has always been an arid and inhospitable planet by sending a series of flybys and probes to the surface. Dew.
The results could help astronomers narrow their search for planets capable of supporting life in orbits around other stars in the galaxy.
“If Venus was habitable in the past, that means other planets we have already discovered may also be habitable,” Constantineau says.
“Instruments like NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope are ideal for studying the atmospheres of planets close to their host stars, like Venus.”
“But if Venus was never habitable, Venus-like planets elsewhere are less likely to have habitable conditions or candidates for life.
“We wanted to know that Venus was once a planet much closer to ours, so it’s sad in a way to find out that it wasn’t, but in the end it turned out that most of it was a planet closer to Earth. It would be more profitable to focus our exploration on planets that could probably support life, at least life as we know it. ”
of study Published in this month’s magazine natural astronomy.
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T. Constantinou others. The arid interior of Venus, constrained by atmospheric chemistry. Nat Astronpublished online on December 2, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02414-5
This article is based on a press release provided by the University of Cambridge.
Venus is often called Earth's twin, but its current surface conditions are very different from Earth's and are not suitable for life to exist: not only cannot liquid water exist due to the extreme temperatures and pressures beneath the thick cloud layer, but more importantly, there is almost no water in Venus' atmosphere. Solar Occultation Observatory in Infrared (SOIR) On ESA's Venus Express spacecraftPlanetary researchers have discovered an unexpected increase in the abundance of two variants of the water molecule.2O and HDO, and their ratio HDO/H2O in Venus' mesosphere. This phenomenon calls into question our understanding of Venus' water history and its possible past habitability.
Venus in true colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.
Currently, the temperature on Venus is about 460 degrees Celsius and the pressure is almost 100 times that of Earth.
The atmosphere is extremely dry, covered with thick clouds of sulfuric acid and water droplets, and most of the water resides beneath and within these cloud layers.
However, it is possible that Venus once contained as much water as Earth does.
“Venus is often called Earth's twin planet because its size is similar to Earth's,” says Dr. Hiroki Kario of Tohoku University.
“Despite the similarities between the two planets, their evolutionary processes are different. Unlike Earth, the surface conditions on Venus are extreme.”
Survey of H abundance2O and its deuterated isotope HDO (isotope) reveal insights into the history of water on Venus.
It is generally accepted that Venus and Earth originally had similar HDO/H2O ratio.
However, the ratio observed in Venus' entire atmosphere (below altitude 70 km) was 120 times higher, indicating a significant increase in deuterium over time.
This enrichment occurs primarily when solar radiation breaks down isotopes of water in the upper atmosphere, producing hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) atoms.
Hydrogen atoms have a small mass and are therefore prone to escaping into space, so HDO/H2The O ratio gradually increases.
To understand how much hydrogen and deuterium has been released into space, it is important to measure the amount of isotopes in water at altitudes where hydrogen and deuterium are broken down by sunlight (above the clouds at altitudes of 70 km or more).
Dr. Caryu et al.2O and HDO increase between 70 and 110 km altitude, and HDO/H2In this range, the O ratio increases by an order of magnitude, reaching levels more than 1,500 times higher than in Earth's oceans.
“The proposed mechanism to explain these findings is the reaction of hydrated sulfuric acid (H2So4) aerosols,” the researchers said.
“These aerosols form just above the clouds, where temperatures drop below the dew point of sulfuric acid water, leading to the formation of deuterium-rich aerosols.”
“These particles rise to high altitudes and evaporate due to rising temperatures, releasing a much higher proportion of HDO compared to non-HDO.2“oh.”
“The steam is then conveyed downwards and the cycle begins again.”
“This study highlights two important points,” they added.
“First, altitude changes play an important role in pinpointing the location of deuterium and hydrogen reservoirs.”
“Second, the increase in HDO/H2The O ratio ultimately increases the release of deuterium, influencing the long-term change in the D/H ratio.”
“These findings encourage us to incorporate highly dependent processes into models to make accurate predictions about the evolution of D/H.”
“Understanding the evolution of Venus' habitability and water history can help us understand what makes a planet habitable and inform how to ensure Earth doesn't follow in its twin's footsteps.”
of result Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Arnaud Mahieu others2024. Unexpected increase in deuterium to hydrogen ratio in the Venus mesosphere. PNAS 121 (34): e2401638121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2401638121
Using radar data NASA’s Magellan Project Planetary scientists have detected volcano-related flow features in two different regions of Venus: on the western slope of Sif Mons and in western Niobe Planitia.
This image shows the Schiffmons region with active volcanic areas highlighted in red. Image courtesy of Davide Sulcanese, IRSPS – Università d’Annunzio.
Venus’s thick atmosphere makes it difficult to make direct observations of the planet’s surface.
However, although global radar mapping performed by the Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s showed that Venus’s surface is covered with many volcanoes and was likely formed by extensive volcanic activity in the past, the role of volcanism in Venus’s geological present remained unclear.
However, 2023 Magellan data confirmed evidence of more recent activity from one volcanic vent on the planet’s surface.
In the new study, Davide Sulcanese, a researcher at D’Annunzio University, and his colleagues analyzed two sets of Magellan radar data taken in 1990 and 1992 to look for evidence of volcanic activity.
They found surface changes that could indicate volcanic activity in two areas with volcanic-related features: on the western slope of Mount Sif and in western Niobe Planitia.
After analyzing a range of possible causes, the authors suggest that these fluctuations were likely caused by fresh lava flows.
They suggest that not only is Venus currently a geologically active planet, but that volcanic activity is currently quite widespread.
They also suggest that volcanic activity on Venus is comparable to that on Earth, indicating that Venus is more volcanically active than previously thought.
Artist’s impression of an erupting volcano on Venus. Image courtesy of ESA / AOES Medialab.
“These maps suggest that Venus may be much more volcanically active than previously thought,” Dr Sulcanese said.
“Analysis of lava flows observed at two locations on Venus suggests that volcanic activity on Venus may rival that on Earth.”
“We interpret these signals as flows along the slopes and volcanic plains that, like fluids, may bypass obstacles such as shield volcanoes,” added Dr Marco Mastrogiuseppe, a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome.
“After ruling out other possibilities, we determined that the best interpretation is that these are new lava flows.”
“These new findings about Venus’s recent volcanic activity provide compelling evidence for the types of regions NASA’s upcoming VERITAS mission should target when it arrives at Venus,” said Dr. Suzanne Smrekar, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and VERITAS principal investigator.
“Our spacecraft has a suite of approaches to identify surface changes with much more comprehensiveness and resolution than Magellan’s images.”
“Finding evidence of activity even in the low-resolution Magellan data has great potential to revolutionize our understanding of this mysterious world.”
of result Published in this week’s journal Natural Astronomy.
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D. Sulcanese othersEvidence of ongoing volcanic activity on Venus revealed by Magellan radar. Nat AstronPublished online May 27, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02272-1
Given the diversity and complexity of endogenous and extrinsic processes that contribute to the maintenance of habitable conditions over geological and biological timescales, it is unclear how rocky planets become habitable and their status. Fully understanding how it is maintained is a fundamental challenge for planetary scientists and astrobiologists. In the face of this challenge, it is essential to exploit the full range of atmospheric evolution data for rocky planets within the solar system. Although Venus represents an apparent fringe member of planetary habitability, its contribution to understanding the prevalence of long-term temperate surface conditions in large rocky worlds remains poorly recognized. Upcoming missions to Venus, including NASA's VERITAS and DAVINCI, and ESA's EnVision mission, will begin to crystallize this understanding.
Kane and Byrne describe Venus as an anchor point where planetary scientists can better understand the conditions that prevent life on exoplanets. Image credit: Kane & Byrne, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5.
“We often assume that Earth is a model of habitability, but when we consider this planet in isolation, we don’t know where the boundaries and limits are. Venus gives us that. '' said Dr. Stephen Cain, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside.
“Although they also feature a pressure cooker-like atmosphere that could flatten humans in an instant, Earth and Venus share some similarities.”
“They have roughly the same mass and radius. Given their proximity to the planet, it’s natural to wonder why Earth looked so different.”
Many scientists believe that solar flux, the amount of energy Venus receives from the sun, caused a runaway greenhouse effect that doomed Earth.
“If Earth receives 100% of the solar energy, Venus collects 191%. Many people think that’s why Venus looks different,” Dr. Kane said.
“But wait a minute. Venus doesn’t have a moon, but that gives Earth something like ocean tides and affects the amount of water here.”
In addition to some of the known differences, more NASA missions to Venus will also clarify some of the unknowns.
Planetary scientists have no idea how big its core is, how it arrived at its current relatively slow rotational speed, how its magnetic field has changed over time, or the chemistry of its lower atmosphere. i don’t know.
“Venus has no detectable magnetic field. That may be related to the size of its core,” Dr. Kane said.
“The size of the core also gives us information about how the planet cools. Earth has a mantle, and heat circulates through its core. What’s going on inside Venus? I don’t know.”
“The interior of a rocky planet also influences its atmosphere. That is the case for Earth, and our atmosphere is primarily the result of volcanic gas emissions.”
Schematic cross-section of Earth and Venus. Major internal and atmospheric components are shown to scale. Image credit: Kane & Byrne, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5.
NASA is planning two missions to Venus (DAVINCI and VERITAS) for the end of this decade, and Dr. Cain is supporting both.
The DAVINCI mission will explore the acid-filled atmosphere and measure noble gases and other chemical elements.
“DAVINCI measures the atmosphere from top to bottom. This is extremely useful for building new climate models and predicting this type of atmosphere elsewhere, including on Earth, as the amount of carbon dioxide continues to increase. ,” Dr. Kane said.
Although the Veritas mission will not land on the surface, it will allow scientists to reconstruct detailed 3D terrain, which could reveal whether the planet has active plate tectonics or volcanoes.
“Currently, our global map is very incomplete. Understanding how active a surface is and understanding how it has changed over time are very different. We need both types of information,” Dr. Kane said.
Ultimately, Dr. Kane and his co-author, Dr. Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis, advocate such a mission to Venus for two main reasons.
One is that with better data, we can use Venus to confirm that our inferences about life on distant planets are correct.
“The somber thing about searching for life elsewhere in the universe is that we will never have in-situ data on exoplanets. We will never go there, land on them, or measure them directly. I don’t intend to,” Dr. Kane said.
“If we think there is life on the surface of another planet, we may never realize we are wrong and end up dreaming of a planet without life.” I guess.”
“We can only get it right by understanding the Earth-sized planets we can visit. Venus gives us that chance.”
Another reason to study Venus is that it can predict what Earth’s future will be.
“One of the main reasons we study Venus is because of our sacred duty as stewards of this planet to protect its future,” Dr. Kane said.
“My hope is that by studying how Venus came to be today, we can learn lessons from it, especially if it had a benign past that is now in ruins. The question is when and how.”
of review paper It was published in the magazine natural astronomy.
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Stephen R. Cain and Paul K. Byrne. 2024. Venus as an anchor point for planetary habitability. Nat Astron 8, 417-424; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5
“Ash light” or AL is a faint mysterious glow or hue seen in the night hemisphere of Venus. It is often compared to Earthshine, the reflected light that illuminates the far side of the Moon.
First described by Italian astronomer Giovanni Riccioli in 1643, AL has been observed many times since then, but its faint, ephemeral, and elusive nature has prevented serious research. It’s here.
Even more problematic, AL has so far only been detected by the human eye, and no scientific instruments, either earth-based or space-based, have recorded this phenomenon.
Some authorities have declared this phenomenon to be an illusion, perhaps an eye contrast effect or even an “expectation bias.” Some have suggested that a defect in the equipment could explain the phenomenon. Light scattering, optical aberrations, background sky brightness, weather, etc.
But there are enough reliable reports about AL that some scientists can offer an explanation. These include reflected light from Earth, auroras, “airglow” radiation, lightning, and infrared (thermal) radiation from Venus’ atmosphere.
Most of these explanations are ignored for some reason. However, there is ample evidence that not only ultraviolet light from the sun, but also high-energy solar wind particles can excite oxygen atoms in Venus’ atmosphere.
This creates a pale green glow similar to that seen in the aurora borealis on Earth. However, the process is somewhat different because auroras on Earth are caused by Earth’s magnetic field interacting with solar particles, whereas Venus has no appreciable magnetic field.
It remains to be seen whether this explanation can explain all or some of the AL observations. Therefore, the long-standing mystery of AL may still turn out to be an illusion.
This article is an answer to the question (asked by Herman Townsend of Liverpool): “What is Ashen Light?”
If you have any questions, please email us at:questions@sciencefocus.comor send us a messageFacebook,XorInstagramPage (remember to include your name and location).
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Planetary scientists have long speculated that Venus' potential habitability lies not in its hot surface but in a cloud layer at an altitude of 48 to 60 kilometers, where temperatures match those of Earth's surface. However, it is commonly believed that Venusian clouds cannot support life because their chemical composition is concentrated sulfuric acid, a highly aggressive solvent. In the new study, chemists studied 20 biogenic amino acids across a range of sulfuric acid concentrations and temperatures in the Venus cloud. After four weeks, the researchers found that 19 of the biogenic amino acids tested were either unreactive or chemically modified only in their side chains. Their main discovery is that the amino acid backbone remains intact in concentrated sulfuric acid.
This composite image taken by JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.
“What is quite surprising is that concentrated sulfuric acid is not a universally hostile solvent for organic chemistry,” said MIT researcher Dr. Janusz Petkowski.
“We found that the building blocks of life on Earth are stable in sulfuric acid, which is very interesting as we consider the possibility of life on Venus,” said Sarah Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. the professor added.
“That doesn't mean life there will be the same as it is here. In fact, we know it's unlikely. But this study suggests that Venus' clouds support the complex chemicals necessary for life. We advance the idea that there is a possibility that
The search for life in Venus' clouds has gained momentum in recent years, spurred by the detection of the controversial molecule phosphine, a molecule thought to be a signature of life, in the planet's atmosphere. There is.
Although the discovery remains debated, the news reignited old questions about whether life could actually exist on Earth's sister planet.
In search of answers, scientists are planning several missions to Venus. That includes the first largely privately-funded mission to Venus, backed by California-based launch company Rocket Lab.
The mission, for which Professor Seeger is the principal scientist, aims to send a spacecraft into the planet's clouds and analyze their chemistry for signs of organic molecules.
Ahead of the mission's launch in January 2025, Professor Seager and his colleagues will test various materials in concentrated sulfuric acid to find out whether debris from life on Earth might be stable in Venus' clouds. I've been testing molecules. The most acidic place on earth.
“People have a perception that concentrated sulfuric acid is a very aggressive solvent that will tear everything apart, but we are finding that this is not necessarily true,” Dr. Petkowski said.
In fact, the authors have previously shown that complex organic molecules, such as some fatty acids and nucleic acids, are surprisingly stable in sulfuric acid.
They are careful to emphasize, as they do in the current paper, that complex organic chemistry is of course not life, but without organic chemistry there is no life.
In other words, if certain molecules can survive in sulfuric acid, Venus' highly acidic clouds are probably habitable, if not necessarily habitable.
In the new study, researchers focused on 20 biogenic amino acids, amino acids that are essential for all life on Earth.
They dissolved each type of amino acid in a vial of sulfuric acid mixed with water at concentrations of 81% and 98%, representing the range found in Venus' clouds.
They then used a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to analyze the structure of the amino acids in sulfuric acid.
After analyzing each vial several times over a four-week period, they found that the basic molecular structure, or “skeleton,” of 19 of the 20 amino acids was stable and unaltered, even under highly acidic conditions.
“Just because this skeleton was shown to be stable in sulfuric acid does not mean there is life on Venus,” said Dr. Maxwell Seager, a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
“But if we had shown that this spine was compromised, there would have been no possibility of life as we know it.”
of study Published in this week's magazine astrobiology.
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Maxwell D. Seeger other. Stability of 20 biogenic amino acids in concentrated sulfuric acid: Implications for the habitability of Venusian clouds. astrobiology, published online March 18, 2024. doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0082
Venus’ clouds are thought to be composed of trace elements such as sulfuric acid and iron-containing compounds. The concentration of each of these compounds varies with height in the thick atmosphere of our neighboring planet. In a new study, researchers at the University of Cambridge have synthesized an iron-bearing sulfate mineral that is stable under the harsh chemical conditions of Venus’ clouds. Their spectroscopic analysis revealed that a combination of his two minerals, rhinoclase and acidic ferric sulfate, could explain the mysterious ultraviolet (UV) absorption features in Venus’ atmosphere.
Jean other. They hypothesize that there is an abundant, poorly understood, heterogeneous chemistry within Venusian cloud droplets that significantly influences cloud optical properties and the behavior of trace gas species throughout Venus’ atmosphere. I am. Image credit: Matthias Malmar / NASA.
There are several mysteries surrounding Venus’ clouds. They extend from 48 km to about 65 km and are located in the lower atmosphere (<48 km) と、光化学と力学が関係する上層大気 (>65 km).
In order to understand the chemical cycles between the Venusian atmosphere and its volcanic surfaces and to accurately interpret potential biosignatures, increasing research efforts are being focused on generating complete modeling frameworks for the Venusian atmosphere.
Dr Paul Rimmer, a researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, said: “The only data available on cloud composition has been collected by spacecraft, which reveals some strange aspects of clouds that have so far not been fully explained.'' “We have clarified the nature of this.'' .
“In particular, when examined under ultraviolet light, Venus’ clouds showed a specific pattern of ultraviolet absorption.”
“What elements, compounds, and minerals are involved in such observations?”
Rimmer and his colleagues synthesized several iron-bearing sulfate minerals in their aqueous geochemistry laboratory based on Venus’ atmospheric chemistry.
By suspending the synthesized material in various concentrations of sulfuric acid and monitoring chemical and mineralogical changes, we narrowed down the candidate minerals to rhinoclase and acidic ferric sulfate, and characterized their spectroscopic characteristics in a manner similar to that of the sun. examined under a light source specifically designed to mimic the spectrum. flare.
In an attempt to mimic even more extreme Venusian clouds, the authors measured the UV absorbance pattern of ferric sulfate under extremely acidic conditions.
“The pattern and level of absorption exhibited by the combination of these two mineral phases is consistent with the dark UV patches observed in the clouds of Venus,” said researcher Dr. Clancy Jijiang Jiang from the University of Cambridge.
“These targeted experiments reveal a complex chemical network in the atmosphere and shed light on elemental cycling on Venus’ surface.”
“Venus is our closest neighbor, but it remains mysterious,” Dr. Rimmer says.
“Future NASA and ESA missions will explore its atmosphere, clouds, and surface, giving us the opportunity to learn more about this planet in the coming years.”
“This study sets the stage for future exploration.”
team’s paper appear in the diary scientific progress.
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Clancy Jean Jean other. 2024. Iron and sulfur chemistry can explain ultraviolet absorbers in Venus’ clouds. Scientific Advances 10 (1); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8826
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