Recently active lava flows on the eastern flank of Idunn Mons on Venus
The European Space Agency's Venus Express mission has provided a great amount of data from the surface and atmosphere of Earth's inner twin planet. Among these observations was the mapping of the southern hemisphere of Venus in the near infrared spectral range using the VIRTIS (Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) instrument. However the thick and permanent cloud cover of Venus limits the achievable resolution, similar to observing a scene through fog. Using a numerical model, planetary researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) pushed the limits of the data resolution. With this new technique the emissivity anomalies were analyzed on the top and eastern flank of Idunn Mons, a volcano with a diameter of 200 kilometers at its base situated in the southern hemisphere of Venus. These anomalies provide an indication of geologically recent volcanism in this area.