Venus May Still Be Filled With Active Volcanoes!

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a spacecraft called Magellan in 1989, with this spacecraft, which is the hottest planet in the Solar System. VenusHe began to examine. Findings from the past, on this planet More than 1600 largerevealed that there were more than 1 million small volcanoes. One of the largest of these volcanoes was called Maat Mons. Experts say in a close vicinity of this volcano. volcanic activities reported what they observed.

Continuing his studies at the University of Alaska, Robert Herrick is still on the planet closest to Earth. there may be active volcanoes announced. This was an important announcement because direct observation of whether Venus is volcanically active or not has not been done so far. The scientist states that the most recent observations date back to 1991.

So how did you find out that Venus is active?

Robert Herrick and his team, while examining data from Magellan, found that a strange event had occurred in 1991. The same region on the planet, 8 months apart had been viewed twice, and the two images were different from each other. So much so that the mouth of a relatively small volcano near Maat Mons had grown from 2 square kilometers to 4 square kilometers in 8 months. Moreover, while the mouth of the volcano is circular in the first image, it has become kidney-shaped in the second image and its inner part is also in the shape of a kidney. it got dark. These findings were a clear indication that Venus was still active. Researchers have found that the dark area at the mouth of the volcano is a part of lava lake they guess it is.

In the photo above, there is a physical map of the surroundings of the volcano named Maat Mons. remaining on the right Magellan images of the same area. You can easily see how different the photos taken 8 months apart are. The area designated “New Flows” contains lava residue, the area named “Expanded Vent” is the expanding volcano mouth it reveals.

Let’s not go without mentioning that; Robert Herrick worked with Scott Hensley, one of NASA’s Venus-related projects, to interpret his predictions. In this process, with today’s technologies, various simulation studies done. Studies have led to the thought that the images obtained from Magellan really were an explosion. The development that excites the experts, 10 years later seems to be of greater importance. Because both NASA and the European Space Agency are creating new space missions that will examine Venus in the 2030s. Studies with modern spacecraft will provide much more detailed information about Venus.