Venus Express Detects hydroxyl

Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:32 pm. 0 comments

Venus is still a mystery despite it being Earth’s neighbour. Its thick atmosphere prevents good readings. Esa’s Venus Express (launched in 2005) has been on a mission to find out more about the planet. It has recently detected (for the first time ever on another planet) the molecule hydroxyl. Hydroxyl is made up of an oxygen and hydrogen atom. It was detected 100 km above Venus’ surface, in its upper atmospheric region.

The molecule is an important “cleaner”, on Earth it removes pollutants from the atmosphere, on Mars it most likely kills off certain microbial life on the surface. The discovery makes Venus more Earth-like than previusly thought.

Venus Express has detected the molecule hydroxyl on another planet for the first time. This detection gives scientists an important new tool to unlock the workings of Venus’s dense atmosphere.

Hydroxyl, an important but difficult-to-detect molecule, is made up of a hydrogen and oxygen atom each. It has been found in the upper reaches of the Venusian atmosphere, some 100 km above the surface, by Venus Express’s Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS.

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For more information about the European Space Agency’s Venus Express Mission - click here.

Some more details about the hydroxyl molecule can be found here.