Possible discovery of living forms on Venus
Leonid V Ksanfomality
Space Research Institute of the RAS, Russia
: J Phys Res Appl
Abstract
Habitability of planets is a fundamental question of astrophysics. Some of exoplanets possess physical conditions close to those of Venus. Therefore, the planet Venus, with its dense and hot (735 K) oxygen-free atmosphere of CO2, having a high pressure of 9.2 MPa at the surface, can be a natural laboratory for this kind of studies. The only existing data on the planet’s surface are still the results obtained by the Soviet VENERA landers in 1975-82. The VENERA TV experiments returned 41 panoramas of Venus surface (or their fragments). The experiments were of extreme technical complexity. They have not been repeated by any space agency in the subsequent 43 years. The VENERA panoramas have been treated anew by modern processing codes. Relatively large objects, from a decimeter to half a meter in size, with an unusual morphology have been found which moved very slowly or changed slightly their shape. Certain unusual findings that have a structure similar to the Earth’ fauna and flora were found in different areas of the planet. Due to the availability of up to eight duplicates of the images obtained and their low level of masking noise, the VENERA archive panoramas permit identifying and exploring some types of hypothetical life forms of Venus. Analysis of treated once again VENERA panoramic images revealed objects that might indicate the presence of about 15 hypothetical items of Venusian flora and fauna. Among them is ‘amisada’ that stands out with its unusual lizard shape against the stone plates surrounding it.
Biography
Leonid Ksanfomality has completed his PhD from Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory in 1963 “The polarimetry of the Moon studied by means of an electronic technique”, and Postdoctoral studies on “The Venus thermal asymmetry” from Moscow Space Research Institute. He is the Main Researcher of Moscow Space Research Institute and the PI of 16 space experiments studying Venus, Mars and other Solar system bodies. He has published 4 books, more than 350 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of scientific journals. For the discovery of electrical activity of the atmosphere of Venus (1978), the IAU in 2000 named Xanthomalitia a small planet (asteroid 7394).
E-mail: leksanf@gmail.com
