Venus new bright blemish.

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3488

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Same day as Jupiter's impact, Sunday 19th July 2009, Venus too appears to have a fresh blemish, this time bright.

Cause currently unknown. Solar activity CME? Volcanic eruption? Meteor impact?

Venus blemish.

dn17534-1_600.jpg


ESA Venus Express UV images.
090730-venus-spot-02.jpg


Andrew Brown.
 
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CalliArcale

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Weird and fascinating. ;-) It's another reminder that these planets are not static, but are extremely dynamic places.

It's eerie that it's the same day Jupiter's new "mole" was discovered, but it can't possibly be related. Cool, though.
 
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xXTheOneRavenXx

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Unless these planet strikes are more fequent then we have previously noticed. I know the impact site on both Jupiter & Venus is more then likely more noticable because of the cloud cover hilighting the area in it's own way, making it more visible rather then a rocky impact. if this occurance were to happen say on Mars, then we might mistake a small impact for a dust storm, etc...
 
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3488

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At the moment I think the bright spot is either an impact or a volcanic erution. A volcanic plume would be difficult in that dense atmosphere, but if Venus Express detected increased lightning at the same time, then it is probably a volcanic plume.

Need to check what the surface is like at that latitude, if there are volcanoes there.

Below, I have enlarged the Venus Express image montage, as the original was rather pathetically small. I hope ESA will release some full sized ones as well as a formal announcement. Their website has not been updated as of Saturday 1st August 2009.
090730-venus-spot-02-1.jpg


Andrew Brown.
 
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Archer17

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I came across this while trawling the BBC and was going to post it here but see Andrew Brown is on the ball (again). I agree that this is likely due to volcanic activity or an impact and will post any new developments... if one of y'all don't beat me to it. :)
 
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xXTheOneRavenXx

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Looks like it might have been a gradual process rather then instant, leaning me a little more towards a volcanic eruption. But let's see what geography is there before jumping to conclusions.
 
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3488

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Archer17":1632czap said:
I came across this while trawling the BBC and was going to post it here but see Andrew Brown is on the ball (again). I agree that this is likely due to volcanic activity or an impact and will post any new developments... if one of y'all don't beat me to it. :)

Thank Archer, your kind comments are much appreciated. :mrgreen:

Please do if you find anything new, please bring it here.

xXTheOneRavenXx":1632czap said:
Looks like it might have been a gradual process rather then instant, leaning me a little more towards a volcanic eruption. But let's see what geography is there before jumping to conclusions.

Recent Venus Express IR map of the southern hemisphere of Venus. Note the deep red hot area at 45 degrees south, 345 East, with it extending southwards to 51 South. It looks like a low lying plain rather than a volcano. The White Spot is also approx 50 degrees south.
497341394.jpg


NASA Magellan map by RADAR of the southern hemisphere of Venus. The low lying plain in that location is confirmed here. There appears to be an interesting circular feature to the south.
venus_south_hemisphere_radar_height_big.jpg


I still think it is either volcanic or an impact, leaning towards volcanism.

The BBC has posted a slightly larger image from Venus Express, which I have enlarged.
Just hope ESA will post some decent sized ones from Venus Express.
VenuswhitespotVenusExpress.jpg


Andrew Brown.
 
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CommonMan

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Great pictures, if this turns out to be a volcano eruption, what effect if any could it have on the atmosphere of Venus?
 
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3488

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CommonMan":2b6s3ixj said:
Great pictures, if this turns out to be a volcano eruption, what effect if any could it have on the atmosphere of Venus?

Hi CommonMan,

A surge in Sulphur Dioxide should be detectable, particularly over a localized area & sharing the shearing action of the white spot. Perhaps lightning too over the eruption site.

Andrew Brown.
 
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CalliArcale

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I'm rooting for "volcanic" right now, not so much because of any expertise (you guys way outclass me) but because it would be extremely cool. Right now, we have witnessed classic volcanism only on Earth and Io, and "cryovolcanism" on Triton and Enceladus. To actually see it in action on Venus would be extremely awesome -- the first time we'd seen volcanism actually happening on a major planet other than the Earth.
 
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crazyeddie

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3488":28m0xuko said:
A surge in Sulphur Dioxide should be detectable, particularly over a localized area & sharing the shearing action of the white spot. Perhaps lightning too over the eruption site.

Andrew Brown.

Were it volcanic in nature, I would image it would have to be on the order of a supervolcano eruption, would it not? How else could so much material punch it's way up through such a thick, heavy atmosphere? The mind boggles at the implied violence...... :shock:
 
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Russ_S

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Microbial?

Maybe it's caused by microbes living in the atmosphere? We could be witnessing part of their life-cycle, similar to witnessing Earth's ocean change color due to microbial activity.
 
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SpaceJeff

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Given (1) the recent evidence that Venus' atmosphere is constantly being stripped away from the planet by the Solar Wind (due to Venus' lack of a magentic field to protect it from said Wind), and (2) the fact that Venus has an incredibly dense and massive atmosphere, the only possible explanation for these two contradictory findings is that Venus' atmosphere is constantly being replenished from...somewhere. The most likely candidate is volcanism. From the Magellan maps, we know that there are numerous features on the surface of Venus for which volcanism is the only likely explanation. Moreover, based upon our count of impact craters on the surface of Venus, we know it is likely that the entire surface must have been completely regenerated within the last 500 million to 1 billion years.

What other phenomenon could explain the thick atmosphere despite the fact that the atmosphere is being stripped away? What other phenomenon could explain the uniformly young surface of the planet?

My biggest questions have to do with the source of the volcanism. By far, the greatest source of volcanoes on Earth is friction and stress in subduction zones. As I understand the evaluations of the surface features on Venus, there is virtually no evidence that plate tectonics is active on that planet - a finding consistent with the lack of a magnetic field, presumably related to the lack of a molten metal core. Consequently, neither tectonic activity nor percolating heat rising up from the core would explain the volcanic activity. Most of Earth's non-tectonic volcanoes are located over mantle "hot spots" - presumably the lack of a liquid core would render any such hot spots, or spots that were hot in the past, relatively cool and uniform now. So what causes Venus' volcanism?

You got me, coach. Ideas, anyone? :)
 
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3488

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Hi SpaceJeff,

Welcome to SDC.

Venus unlike Earth appears to have a single layered core (the Earth has an outer & inner one, Venus appears to have just the one).

This core could well be molten, but is not convecting, hense lack of global magnestosphere. Also the Earth, Mercury & the Jupiter moon Ganymede have inernally driven magnetospheres & all three appear to have dual layered cores, something that Venus & Mars boh lack. To me this seems to be more than just a coincidence.

Perhpas a differentiated core like Earth's or Mercury's is composed of a solid inner one made of Iron & Nickel, with a moltern outer one made from Iron Sulphide, which is churning over.

In the case of Venus, this lack of core differentiation has probably ceased any global magnetospheric development. It does not preclude volcanism as magmatic Hot Spots can still rise through the mantle & erupt through the crust. True Venus currently lacks Plate Tectonics, so is in effect a 'One Plate' planet.

As you correctly say, much of the Earth's volcanism is on plate boundaries, either in the spreading zones like Iceland, ot the Azores or subduction like The Cascades, The Aleutians, or The Andes, or The Phillippines, or Japan, etc.

The Earth also has some examples of Venus type hot spot volcanism like Hawaii, The Galapagos Islands, or Yellowstone, but these are pretty rare on Earth, but is common on Venus. Lack of global magnetosphere & undifferentiated core, does not rule out volcanism provided there is enough internal heat. Whilst the structure is different, the internal heat budget is similar to Earth's.

The main difference is though, that Earth gets rid of most of it's internal heat through Plate Tectonics. Venus appears to 'bottle up heat' then releases it through mass volcanism that resurfces the planet in episodic mass lava outpourings, though Venus appears to have lesser individual hot spot eruptions in between (based on what is on the surface).

Remember Venus has 81.5% of the mass of the Earth, so will still be hot inside from it's formation & also Venus will still have radioistopic elements internally. Venus's density is not much less than Earth's either, 5.250 GCM3 (Grams per cubic centimetre) as against Earth's 5.517 GCM3, suggesting a very similar make up. Both planets are compressed internally due to their mass & resulting gravity, giving both uncompressed densites of approx 4.6 GCM3 (Mercury with a mean density of 5.43 GCM3 is also the uncompressed density making Mercury the densest planet overall).

Also another object that also lacks a global magnetosphere but is volcanically active is the Jupiter moon Io, though that is due to tidal heating, but that's another issue.

It is late here & I am tired, so hopefully my answer makes sense.

Andrew Brown.
 
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3488

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Re: Microbial?

crazyeddie":1cwrv1nf said:
3488":1cwrv1nf said:
A surge in Sulphur Dioxide should be detectable, particularly over a localized area & sharing the shearing action of the white spot. Perhaps lightning too over the eruption site.

Andrew Brown.

Were it volcanic in nature, I would image it would have to be on the order of a supervolcano eruption, would it not? How else could so much material punch it's way up through such a thick, heavy atmosphere? The mind boggles at the implied violence...... :shock:

Hi Eddie, I agree.

If it is an eruption, that would be of supervolcanic intensity. The very dense atmosphere would make ash formation difficult & any ash would in a normal eruption be confined close to the source, by that very dense atmosphere.

A huge blast though would be able to form a plume. If this is what it is, then why are the ESA keeping quiet about it. Their site is still not updated about the White Spot of Venus & yet this is a major event that Venus Express has observed.

Russ_S":1cwrv1nf said:
Maybe it's caused by microbes living in the atmosphere? We could be witnessing part of their life-cycle, similar to witnessing Earth's ocean change color due to microbial activity.

Hi Russ,

I am not sure about microbes, but you never know & at this point volcanoes, impact or microbes cannot be ruled out. The one problem I have with microbes in the clouds of Venus, is what would they live on? Sulphur from the volcanoes on the surface????

Would the Earth have microbes in the atmosphere if there was no biosphere on the surface or in the oceans??? Interesting thought.

Andrew Brown.
 
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70VirginisB

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I said it in the comments for the article and I will say it again.

I think its a Magmacane or Lavacane? A hurricane like storm that forms over a large area of Magma or Lava.

We know Venus goes through catastrophic surfacing events where magma covers a large portion of the surface, I would presume in the atmosphere a liquid magma surface could provide energy to drive large storms as it would here on Earth.
 
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bobjones79

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I'm just going to say what everyone else is thinking, it's aliens.
 
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greddytalon

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Obviously it's a primitive race of Venusian aliens trying to send us smoke signals!
 
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Russ_S

Guest
Idea

Some people have said that volcanic activity would not be powerful enough to reach the upper atmosphere due to high atmospheric pressure. But what if the gases released from volcanic activity were less dense than atmosphere? Wouldn't the gases rise through the atmosphere, albeit slowly?
This could apply to other types of surface activity too: perhaps a quake released some underground gases?
 
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xXTheOneRavenXx

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Really it's anyone's guess right now. We probably won't know what processes are taking place on Venus until we either put a mobile type vehicle on there to find out for sure, or gain better imaging technology to see through the thick cloud cover.
 
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bc

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i really wanted to say its a war between venus and jupiter, but everyone is jumping to conclusions... for some reason it is assumed to either be a volcano or meteor... maybe it is a completely new phenomena... it might be something completely unique to venus...
 
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