The European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe has beamed back data that suggests Venus might still be volcanically active.

Data from the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument on Venus Express shows differences in the ‘thermal emissivity’ and therefore the composition of lava flows in three volcanic regions.

In a new paper in Science researchers suggest this indicates a lack of weathering at the surface which in turn suggests the flows are recent. Volcanoes may have been erupting between 300 and 2.5 million years ago on Venus, they say.

“The geological history of Venus has long been a mystery,” says Sue Smrekar, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (press release). “Previous spacecraft gave us hints of volcanic activity, but we didn’t know how long ago that occurred. Now we have strong evidence right at the surface for recent eruptions.”

Image: volcanic peak Idunn Mons / NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA