Venusian Volcano Imagined
What would an erupting volcano on Venus look like?
Evidence of
currently active volcanoes on
Venus was
announced
earlier this year with the unexplained warmth of
regions thought to contain only ancient volcanoes.
Although large scale
images of Venus have been
taken with radar, thick
sulfuric acid
clouds would inhibit the taking of optical light vistas.
Nevertheless, an artist's reconstruction of a
Venusian volcano
erupting is featured.
Volcanoes could play an important role in a
life cycle on Venus
as they could push chemical foods into the
cooler upper atmosphere where hungry microbes might float.
Pictured,
the plume from an erupting volcano billows upwards, while a
vast lava field covers part of the hot and cracked
surface of Earth's overheated twin.
The possibility of airborne microbial Venusians is
certainly exciting, but
currently
controversial.