September 18, 2026 8-10 PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: Back to Venus with NASA’s DAVINCI Mission
Lecturer: Amy Hofmann
Position: Research Scientist
Institution: JPL
Abstract:
Despite sharing a similar mass, size, and orbital location with Earth, Venus remains a mystery to planetary scientists. Wrapped in a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, with surface pressures exceeding 90 bar and temperatures averaging ~870°F (~465°C), Venus exhibits extreme runaway greenhouse conditions whose evolution remains unresolved. Existing data even call into question whether Venus ever sustained liquid water oceans on its surface, and hence whether Venus could ever have been habitable. 

NASA’s upcoming DAVINCI mission will investigate Venus from above its cloud deck down to its surface to decipher how the planet and its massive atmosphere formed and evolved over the past 4.5 billion years. In this talk, we’ll explore how DAVINCI will investigate Venus’s atmosphere and surface, search for clues to its watery past, and help us understand the habitability of rocky planets beyond our Solar System.