Researchers spot an active volcano on Venus, suggesting the planet is active

New analysis of the planet’s surface suggests an eruption happened in modern times

A new analysis of 30-year-old images taken by the Magellan spacecraft suggests that a volcanic eruption happened on the planet between 1990 and 1992. In other words, Venus is a living planet.

The discovery—published today in Science—seems to resolve a longstanding question about the scorching hot, craggy world: whether volcanoes are still active on the Venusian surface. If volcanic activity is responsible for the surface change seen in the images, Venus will be the third body in the solar system to host active magma volcanoes (as opposed to mud volcanoes). The other two bodies are Jupiter’s moon Io and (of course) Earth.

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Venus is of such interest to space agencies that three missions are planned to head there in the next decade: NASA’s VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions, and the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission.

Read more: Gizmodo