A Russian scientist claims he sees signs of life on Venus. He came to this conclusion based on studies of photos taken during a 1982 Russian landing probe mission to Earth's closest neighbor.
The weight of the atmosphere on Venus is 92 times that of Earth and a temperature of 894 degrees, which makes the type of life known here to be nearly impossible, but life can take on many different forms obviously.
Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences claimed to see life on Venus resembling a "disk," a "black flap" and a "scorpion." His research was published in Solar System Research.
The Venus Express has been exploring the planet since 2005, and so far it has not recorded the same signs of life. Even so, it does not prove that life in some form cannot exist on the gaseous planet.
Do you think it is possible, or is Ksanfomaliti just grasping to say that these images could show signs of life on Venus? Given what is known about the planet, it seems unlikely. However, people have become increasingly aware that extraterrestrial life may appear vastly different to the life that is on Earth, so perhaps there are some living things on the planet. It is certainly interesting to contemplate.
Like this article? See more by Kate James at Gather.com
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 12
As a scientist, I would like to see your evidence for life on Venus so it could be evaluated. Lacking any verifiable evidence, how can one even suggest such a strange hypothesis as life on a planet when the planet's environment precludes the existence of any of the elements and conditions necessary to create life?
Life, if it exists on Venus, would be chemically very different from life on Earth. It would likely find our atmosphere as poisonous as the atmosphere on Venus would be to Earth based life. That does not mean it does not exist. It is very possible that there are many chemical formulae for life in the universe.
It does seem curious that evidence collected by a 30 year old mission, that has been studied exhaustively by many scientists, would provide indications of life that had been missed by all of them until now. That would be my main reason for doubting this claim. However, stranger things have happened in the history of science.
I expect that the universe is likely lousy with life and that it emerges and clings tenaciously in any environment with the energy and chemical resources to support it.