Other Hypotheses
Another hypothesis for the cause of the ashen light is lightning. If there are several strikes in a period of time, the sequence may give off an overall glow in the skies of Venus, if this happens on the night side. However, in an article published in the January issue of Nature, a team of astronomers from the University of Iowa argued against this idea. After reviewing data taken from the Cassini spacecraft, which flew close to Venus in 1998 and 1999, the team resolved that no high-frequency radio emissions were detected, the presence of which would have indicated lightning. In 2007, whistler waves were detected by Venus Express, confirming the occurrence of lightning on Venus. This hypothesis is supported by many astronomers, including two researchers whose paper on their findings is examined below.
Read more about this topic: Ashen Light
Famous quotes containing the word hypotheses:
“But don’t despise error. When touched by genius, when led by chance, the most superior truth can come into being from even the most foolish error. The important inventions which have been brought about in every realm of science from false hypotheses number in the hundreds, indeed in the thousands.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“We shall do better to abandon the whole attempt to learn the truth ... unless we can trust to the human mind’s having such a power of guessing right that before very many hypotheses shall have been tried, intelligent guessing may be expected to lead us to one which will support all tests, leaving the vast majority of possible hypotheses unexamined.”
—Charles S. Pierce (1839–1914)