Eruption occuring on Venus?
Quick hit post from beautiful Walnut, Iowa, but this was too interesting to pass up…
Bright plume spotted on Venus, image taken by the ESA Venus Express.
Did a volcanic eruption recently occur on Venus? No one really knows, but a bright plume of unknown material was spotted by an amateur astronomer. One possible source for this plume might be a volcanic eruption. In the first articles, it was dismissed by “experts” because it is believed that Venus mostly has effusive (lava flow) eruptions not explosive eruptions that form big ash-laden plumes. However, basaltic eruptions on Earth (as it is presumed to occur on Venus) do release a lot of volcanic aerosols – possible more than classical explosive eruptions. Laki in Iceland had just such an eruption in 1783 … just something to ponder when more information on the Venutian plume rolls in.
