Artist’s Concept of Lightning on Venus

Artist’s Concept of Lightning on Venus, a photo by Lunar and Planetary Institute on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This artist’s concept of Venus, dated 2006, suggests the presence of lightning in the atmosphere. The European Space Agency's Venus Express mission confirmed that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning. The confirming measurements of the electrical discharges were made with data obtained by the Venus Express magnetometer instrument provided by the Space Research Institute in Graz, Austria. The measurements were taken once a day for two minutes, during a period when the spacecraft was closest to Venus. A Venusian day is about 117 days long.