00:00On this day in space.
00:04On January 9th, 1643, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Ricchioli
00:08saw a weird glowing light on the night side of Venus.
00:12He named it the Ashen Light of Venus. Astronomers have seen it intermittently
00:16since then, while others who have looked for it have not been able to find it.
00:20To this day, no one really knows what causes the Ashen Light. At first, people wanted to
00:24attribute it to the optical quality of telescopes. Today, many believe that the light
00:28is associated with lightning storms on Venus. It could also be the result of
00:32solar radiation interacting with the atmosphere, similar to how auroras happen on Earth.
00:36Whatever it is, it's been a scientific mystery for centuries.
00:40And that's what happened on this day in space.
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