- For years, scientists have noticed flashes of sunshine on Venus and thought they have been lightning.
- However a brand new examine suggests they may truly be meteors burning up in Venus’ ambiance.
- That is excellent news for future missions to Venus since lightning would pose a risk to spacecraft.
Scientists have noticed mild exhibits on Venus for a few years and through that point, probably the most accepted clarification was lightning. Venus would possibly even have extra lightning than Earth, NASA stated in a press release from 2007.
However a brand new examine is forcing scientists to rethink these preconceived notions, suggesting that Venus’ mysterious flashing lights are literally meteors burning up within the planet’s ambiance.
The examine, printed within the Journal of Geophysical Analysis: Planets, notes that lightning on Venus is “both ubiquitous, uncommon, or non-existent, relying on how one interprets various observations.”
One cause the researchers do not assume it is lightning is due to Venus’ radio silence.
On Earth, a technique the Nationwide Extreme Storms Laboratory screens storms is by detecting radio waves from lightning. However, up to now, the Cassini Probe and Parker Photo voltaic Probe investigated the “lightning” on Venus whereas flying by the planet, and neither detected radio alerts.
Determining the flashes are in all probability meteors, nonetheless, took extra analysis.
Scientists at Arizona State College counted the variety of flashes noticed at each the Steward Observatory and Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter. They estimated between 10,000 and 100,000 flashes per yr, which aligned with potential meteor strikes — sufficient to guide the researchers to conclude that meteors could be the wrongdoer, in response to Phys.org.
Venus additionally has sulfuric acid clouds as an alternative of water vapor, which can not even be able to producing lightning. These components may point out that the frequent flashes aren’t lightning in any respect.
That is excellent news for future missions to Venus; if the flashes have been lightning, it may pose a risk to probes coming into the planet’s ambiance, in response to NASA.
“Lightning is probably going too uncommon to pose a hazard to missions that go by means of or dwell within the clouds of Venus,” the examine stated. “Likewise, small meteoroids deplete at altitudes of ∼100 km, roughly twice as excessive above the floor because the clouds, and in addition wouldn’t pose a hazard.”
Researchers consider that probes that descend shortly by means of Venus’ ambiance are doubtless protected, House.com reported.
A spacecraft hasn’t landed on Venus because the Eighties. Excessive warmth and crushing strain make it very inhospitable. The Soviet Union’s Venera 13 probe set the file for surviving two hours on the planet in 1981.
NASA plans to ship the DAVINCI probe to review Venus’ clouds and geology in 2031 and hopefully retrieve different information when its atmospheric descent probe makes contact with the floor.
