Bright Spot On Venus Puzzles Experts
Experts are puzzled by a bright spot on Venus. No, not Venus de Milo, the famous and quite beautiful Greek statue, it’s the planet Venus.
According to the BBC, the spot was first identified on July 19, by US amateur astronomer Frank Melillo, from Holtsville, New York. His discovery was later confirmed by the European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft.
Scientists are not quite sure just what has caused the bright spot thousands of miles above the planet’s surface.
Of the several theories, it is thought that most likely, the strange illumination is the result of a volcanic eruption. As pointed out by the BBC, an eruption would have needed to be extremely powerful to penetrate this far through the planet’s dense, mainly carbon dioxide, atmosphere.
Other potential sources for the bright spot are charged particles from the Sun interacting with Venus’s atmosphere.
Whatever the cause, Venus, as she has been for millennia, is again responsible for some genuine excitement.
