A recent study conducted by a team of scientists at the University of Alaska revealed the presence of a vent in the Maat Mons volcano, approximately 2.2 square kilometers in area.
The images used for the research that was carried out by the scientist Robert Herrick were taken by the Magellan space probe from NASAwhich came to Venus on August 10, 1990 and during its mission it already obtained close to 1,000 images.
Thus, after comparing an image obtained in mid-February 1991 with another recorded by Magellan in mid-October of that same year, Herrick and his team of collaborators They detected a change in a vent on the north side, which had gone from being a circular formation of about 2.2 square kilometers to having an irregular shape of approximately 4 square kilometers.
In addition, the second image indicated that the walls of the chimney had become shorter, perhaps only a few hundred meters high, and that the chimney was nearly filled to the brim.
For the first time, scientists have observed direct geological evidence of an active volcano on Venus. ????
The @UAFGI and JPL team made the discovery after scouring archival radar images taken by @NASA’s Magellan mission more than 30 years ago. https://t.co/CTYYBFzAJl pic.twitter.com/v4vlx0aMiM
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) March 15, 2023
“It can now be said that Venus is volcanically active, in the sense that there are at least a few eruptions a year.Herrick stated.
“For this reason, surely the next missions to Venus observe new volcanic flows that have occurred since the Magellan mission ended three decades ago, and we should observe some activity while the next two orbital missions collect images“added the scientist.
Based on this unprecedented finding on the surface of Venus, researchers speculate with the formation of a lava lake in the vent during the eight months between the images studied, although they still do not know if the content was liquid or had cooled and solidified.
“The changes in the walls of the vent could also respond to a non-volcanic collapse, but caused by an earthquake that would have caused the changes.Herrick concluded.