Nearby Venus is looking a bit more Earth-like with frequent bursts of lightning confirmed by a new European space probe.
For nearly three decades, astronomers have said Venus probably had lightning -- ever since a 1978 NASA probe showed signs of electrical activity in its atmosphere. But experts weren't sure because of signal interference.
Now a magnetic antenna on the European Space Agency's Venus Express probe proved that the lightning was real.
"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 on Wednesday in Paris.
The finding is significant because lightning affects atmospheric chemistry, so scientists will have to take it into account as they learn about Venus, he said.
The lightning is cloud-to-cloud, said University of California in Los Angeles geophysics professor C.T. Russell, lead author of a paper on the Venusian fireworks being published in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Bursts of lightning are something that scientists have long theorized could provide the spark of life in primordial ooze.
But not on Venus.
"If life was ever something serious to talk about on Venus, it would be early in its history," said Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was not part of the research team.
The idea of Earth-like lightning is fascinating, Russell said.
However, you could not see it from Venus' surface, nor would you want to look because the Venusian atmosphere is 100 times more dense than Earth's, is hotter by about 480oC and has clouds of sulfuric acid, he said.
"It may be Earth's `evil twin,' but it is in many respects Earth's twin," Russell said.
What excites astronomers most about the lightning discovery is simply the coolness factor.
Venus' weather forecasts have long thought to be "kind of boring ... steady winds for the next 400 years," said Allan Treiman, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
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