Venus Archives

A cartoon image of the cloud formation at the equator of Venus (modified from Imamura and Hashimoto 2001)

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

Venus Cloud Research: Progress and Perspectives

by Keith CowingJune 10, 2025June 10, 2025

Venus has regained attention on the international stage with the approval of three new missions by ESA and NASA. As the twin sister of Earth, Venus exhibits a distinct atmosphere, […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Venus

Perspective: Life On Venus?

by Keith CowingJune 2, 2025June 2, 2025

Venus is not generally at the forefront when considering extraterrestrial life. Yet, based on the physical similarities and proximity to Earth and with the little knowledge of its evolutionary history, […]

Schematic showing some of the major chemical cycles involved in ozone (O3) formation in Venus’s atmosphere. The major H, S and Cl bearing species are outgassed from Venus’s surface. These species are subsequently dissociated by photochemistry, and the products are involved in chemical cycles that produce O2 and O. The resulting O2 and O react to produce O3. We include the unknown chemical pathway producing O3 required by our results. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Venus

Abiotic Ozone In The Observable Atmospheres Of Venus And Venus-like Exoplanets

by Keith CowingMay 23, 2025May 23, 2025

Ozone is a potential biosignature and disambuguator between Earth-like and Venus-like exoplanets due to its association on Earth with photosynthetically produced oxygen (O2).

A top-down view of the TOI-2285 system architecture, where the scale of the figure is shown along each axis. The CHZ is shown in light green, the OHZ extensions to the HZ are shown in dark green, and the orbit of the known planet is shown as a solid line. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Venus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Interior And Climate Modeling of the Venus Zone Planet TOI-2285 b

by Keith CowingMay 21, 2025May 21, 2025

As the discovery of exoplanets progresses at a rapid pace, the large number of known planets provides a pathway to assess the stellar and planetary properties that govern the climate […]

Mass of surface water in the collapsed state as a function of the stellar flux S∗ and the background surface pressure pdry (A), and a function of S∗ and the CO2 concentration fCO2 (B). In panel(A), fCO2 = 376 ppmv; in panel(B), pdry = 1 bar. Gray dashed curves in both panels mark the boundaries of runaway greenhouse state where no surface water can exist, and red stars correspond to the example shown in Figure 2. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Venus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Retention Of Surface Water On Tidally Locked Rocky Planets In The Venus Zone Around M Dwarfs

by Keith CowingMay 20, 2025May 20, 2025

Terrestrial planets within the Venus zone surrounding M dwarf stars can retain surface ice caps on the perpetual dark side if atmospheric heat transport is inefficient, (as suggested by previous […]

Transmission spectra of K2-18 b from exoTEDRF (blue), JExoRES (black), SPARTA (orange) and Eureka! (green). For NIRISS and NIRSpec, faded points show higher resolution (R=100 and 200, respectively) spectra, and solid colors are binned for clarity. Smaller panels show error-normalized differences relative to exoTEDRF. The JExoRES spectra used different binning and are interpolated in the difference panels. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Venus

Insufficient Evidence For DMS And DMDS In The Atmosphere Of K2-18 b

by Keith CowingMay 20, 2025September 18, 2025

Recent JWST observations of the temperate sub-Neptune K2-18 b have been interpreted as suggestive of a liquid water ocean with possible biological activity. Signatures of DMS and DMDS have been […]

This artist’s concept of the large Quetzalpetlatl Corona located in Venus’ southern hemisphere depicts active volcanism and a subduction zone, where the foreground crust plunges into the planet’s interior. A new study suggests coronae are the locations of several types of tectonic activity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Peter Rubin

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Venus

Lava World Recon: Possible Tectonic Activity On Venus

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2025May 16, 2025

Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet’s surface.

Transformations between the ORF (blue), SRF (orange), and BRF (green), with Euler angles. The SRF and the BRF are both rotating frames, with ZS the spin axis of Venus and ZB its polar principal axis. The polar motion is the relative motion between the SRF and the BRF. -- astro-ph.EP

Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Venus

Polar Motion Of Venus

by Keith CowingMay 15, 2025May 15, 2025

Five Venus missions are under development to study the planet in the next decade, with both NASA’s VERITAS and ESA’s EnVision featuring a geophysical investigation among their objectives.