Venus Has Lightning, Just Like Us

Lightning on VenusVenus is looking a bit more Earth-like, with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe. "We consider this to be the first definitive evidence of abundant lighting on Venus," David Grinspoon, of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, told reporters in Paris yesterday. The finding was significant because lightning affected atmospheric chemistry, so scientists would have to take it into account as they tried to understand the atmosphere and climate of Venus, he said. The lightning was cloud-to-cloud, and about 55 kilometres above the surface.

Source: The Age
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