The surface of Venus seems lifeless, choked with sulfuric acid smog and scorched by high temperatures.. For a long time, scientists considered the planet itself to be lifeless, covered with a thick crust and devoid of volcanic activity.. But recently, evidence of volcanism has begun to appear, and recently NASA even found direct evidence of an eruption.. This means that, at least geologically, the planet is alive, Science writes..

The discovery was made by scientists who studied data from the Magellan apparatus.. 30 years ago, he circled Venus and used radar to look beyond its dense clouds.. Images taken eight months apart show a round volcanic estuary, or caldera, growing dramatically as a result of the sudden collapse.. On Earth, such collapses occur when the magma that supported caldera vents leaks or dries up, as happened during the 2018 eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano..

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According to scientists, either Magellan was very lucky and witnessed a unique event, or volcanic eruptions on Venus occur as often as on Earth.. In any case, you can rule out the possibility that this is a dead planet..

Thus, Venus became the third celestial body in the solar system, on which volcanic activity was recorded.. She joined Earth and Io, Jupiter's moon.

Robert Herrick, a planetary scientist at the University of Alaska, admitted that finding signs of an eruption in the Magellan data was not easy.. He compares them to looking for a needle in a haystack.. But after hundreds of hours of tedious comparisons covering less than 2% of the Venusian surface, Herrick noticed something like a changed caldera..

To confirm the observations, the scientist contacted Scott Hensley, a radar specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who had previously found false observations in the Magellan data.. Hensley modeled what an unaltered caldera should have looked like during Magellan's second pass.

And this result differed sharply from what was observed in the images..

Fresh lava flows were also visible in the second image, but they may have been hidden from view during the vehicle's first flyby.. However, caldera changes are clear evidence of volcanic activity..

In the next 10 years, three missions will be launched to Venus at once, which can bring new discoveries.

Previously, scientists from the University of Chicago modeled the climate of Venus in the past.. Modeling showed that in the "