A truly staggering geological revelation this month. Scientists pouring over archival radar data gathered by the Magellan spacecraft way back in 1991 have found definitive proof that Venus is still volcanically active today.

By comparing images taken eight months apart, they noticed a volcanic vent on Maat Mons had drastically changed shape and significantly expanded, indicating a fresh eruption of lava. For decades, we suspected Venus might still be active, but having direct observational proof completely changes how we view our sister planet. It makes the upcoming suite of Venus missions—like EnVision and VERITAS—all the more exciting.

JPL - NASA’s Magellan Data Reveals Volcanic Activity on Venus