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The Economic Times
The Economic Times
Piyush Shukla

In 2010, a 36-minute routine telescope session captured hidden giant rings in Venus' atmosphere: Archived images reveal mysterious planet-wide atmospheric waves after 16 years

In 2026, Dutch researchers analyzing archived 2010 observations from the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands discovered planetwide rings on Venus. Polarized light simulations showed 5% to 10% gas density variations from atmospheric gravity waves during a brief 36-minute observation window, marking a candidate discovery.

How a routine 36-minute Venus observation led to an unexpected discovery

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