Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8134988 | Icarus | 2016 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
In this study we describe a dedicated analysis of luminous transient events on Venus night side atmosphere with the visible channel of the VIRTIS instrument (280-1100Â nm), this being the most comprehensive search of lightning conducted so far with Venus Express data. Our search results in thousands of signal detections, but unfortunately they can be all explained by cosmic rays impinging on the detector, and further statistical analysis shows that all of the events are randomly distributed along the spectral dimension, therefore not showing any clear evidence of signal coming from lightning emission in the Venus atmosphere. This does not exclude the existence of lightning, but imposes some constraints on their occurrence that are important for future research.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Space and Planetary Science
Authors
A. CardesÃn Moinelo, S. Abildgaard, A. GarcÃa Muñoz, G. Piccioni, D. Grassi,