New discovery on Venus: Two volcanoes erupting lava!

Scientists have discovered two large, winding lava flows flowing from two different corners on Venus.

On May 27, the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that by analyzing data from NASA's Magellan mission, scientists have identified two volcanoes that erupted on Venus in the beginning. the 1990s, according to Xinhua.

Venus and volcanic activity are marked in red in the Sif Mons area.

Specifically, according to the New York Times , by using modern software to study data from the Magellan mission, scientists have discovered two clear lava flows: one flowing down the slopes of Sif Mons (one broad shield volcano) and another that winds through the western part of Niobe Planitia (an area with many volcanoes).

Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California, the Magellan mission mapped 98% of Venus's surface between 1990 and 1992 and provided the most detailed images yet. Venus to date, according to NASA.

This latest discovery builds on the historic discovery in 2023 of images from Magellan's synthetic aperture radar. These radar images are the first direct evidence of a recent volcanic eruption on the planet.

By comparing Magellan's radar images over time, researchers detected changes caused by flows of molten rock from beneath Venus's surface filling the crater and spilling down its slopes.

The Magellan spacecraft , also known as Venus Radar Mapper (Venus radar mapping mission) is a 1,035kg unmanned spacecraft launched by the US Aeronautics and Space Administration on May 4- 1989.

Magellan was the first spacecraft to photograph the entire surface of Venus and explore the planet. Even when the spacecraft plunged into Venus's atmosphere and burned up in 1994, it was still collecting data.

Scientists study active volcanoes to understand how a planet's interior can form a crust, promoting growth and affecting habitability.

According to NASA, the recent discovery of volcanic activity on Venus provides valuable insight into the planet's history and why it followed a different developmental path than Earth.