Venus recently joined the club of planets with electrically active atmospheres, namely Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. The lightning on Venus is peculiar in a way that unlike Earth, where lightning takes place due to water clouds, the cause for lightning on Venus are the clouds of Sulphuric Acid(H2SO4) which fill the planet's atmosphere.The discovery is very important as lightning is one of the factors that drives planetary chemistry. Also, Venus being a planet with extreme pressures and temperatures, electrical discharge allows the breaking of molecules into fragments and therefore unexpected compounds sprout in the atmosphere.
The findings were reported after the Venus express spacecraft mission collected data using the on-board magnetometer for 2 minutes everyday for the period when the spacecraft was closest to the planet. The magnetometer was provided by the Space Research Institute in Graz, Austria. Another mission scheduled to arrive at the planet is the Japanese mission named the Venus Climate Orbiter(a.k.a. Planet-C) will reinforce the findings of its predecessor.
Despite stark new discoveries, Venus retains its status for being devilish and one should keep the idea of a holiday there out of the sane human mind.
- Ankit Bhatia
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