Moon and Venus

StarDate

The two brightest objects in the night sky barely peek into view in the evening twilight tonight. But you don’t have much time to look for them – Venus and the Moon set by the time it gets dark.

There’s building evidence that Venus is an active world. Volcanoes appear to erupt on its surface, and giant blocks of rock may shift position.

There’s no doubt that Venus has been active in the past. More than 90 percent of its surface is covered by volcanic rock. In fact, the surface might have been completely flooded with molten rock as recently as half a billion years ago. And the surface is pockmarked by tens of thousands of volcanic features.

Spacecraft have revealed evidence of ongoing activity. The most recent example was reported earlier this year.

Scientists compared images of Venus taken by the Magellan spacecraft in 1990 and ’92. Magellan used radar to peer through the planet’s clouds and map almost its entire surface.

The new analysis found possible changes in the way two volcanic mountains reflected the radar waves. That suggests that both mountains erupted between the times they were observed. One of them produced a lava flow that covered about 12 square miles, the other, 17 square miles. Combined with other observations, that suggests that Venus is still an active world.

Venus is the brilliant “evening star.” It’s quite low in the west at sunset, a little above the crescent Moon.

Script by Damond Benningfield