Volcanoes on Venus Studied

Scientists have used radar waves from three antennas in the Mojave Desert to peek beneath the dense clouds of Venus and capture images that suggest that the planet has had active volcanoes in the not-too-distant past.

The fuzzy images show mountains that seem to be of volcanic origin and broad lava flows up to 350 miles long, according to the scientists, Raymond F. Jurgens, Martin F. Slade and R. Stephen Saunders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena.

Previous images from U.S. and Soviet spacecraft indicated that Venus probably had ancient volcanoes, but the new evidence suggests that some volcanic activity may have taken place relatively recently, geologically speaking. The craters are highly reflective, indicating that metallic minerals have been blasted to the surface from deep within the planet recently enough to retain their reflectivity.