Meteors, Not Lightning: The Truth Behind Venus' Flashes of Light

A new study suggests that the intriguing light flashes observed on Venus, previously thought to be lightning strikes, may actually be caused by meteors burning up in the planet's atmosphere. The study compared the number of flashes recorded by two surveys with the estimated number of meteors raining on Venus, and found that the space rocks burning up about 62 miles from the planet's surface could be responsible for most, if not all, of the observed flashes. This finding is important for future missions to Venus, as it suggests that lightning is not a significant threat to probes descending through the planet's atmosphere, but may pose a slightly higher risk for long-lived aerial platforms hovering in the clouds.