As if the surface of Venus wasn't hellish enough, new data from Europe's Venus Express probe suggests volcanoes might still be erupting there. Seeing the surface from orbit is not possible because of thick cloud layers in the dense atmosphere, but the probe can detect "hot spots" on the surface by noting thermal differences. Three such spots seem to correspond with three volcanoes already mapped.
Last year, a small bright spot was seen in Venus' atmosphere that some scientists interpreted as a volcanic eruption. Taken with this new data, if that spot can be related to a volcano on the surface, a strong case could be made that Venus is still a geologically active world. That would require a complete rethinking of how we view the planet, and perhaps spark new insights into Earth history, and even into the processes that lead to climate change.
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