Astronomer claims signs of life on Venus
An astronomer claims to have found signs of life on Venus after re-analysing 30-year-old photographs taken by a Soviet probe.
Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute at Russia's Academy of Sciences claims to have found evidence of a 'scorpion-like' creature in photos taken by the Russian probe Venus-13 in 1982.
Mr Ksanfomaliti says the photos show a scorpion-shaped body, a disc and a 'black patch,' which appears to have moved in the series of photos.
Writing in the Russian journal Solar System Research magazine, the astronomer claims the flap 'emerges, fluctuates and disappears'.
This, he says, is evidence of life on Venus.
"What if we forget about the current theories about the non-existence of life on Venus, let's boldly suggest that the objects' [structural] features would allow us to say that they are living," he says.
Scientists have long held the theory that Venus may once have supported life.
Similar in size and structure to Earth, the planet's average surface temperature is around 470 degrees, making it far too hot to support life as we know it.
However scientists believe the planet may once have contained oceans and an atmosphere similar to Earth's, meaning it may have supported life billions of years ago.
Venus' oceans have long-since dried up thanks to the Greenhouse effect, making in uninhabitable today.
But that doesn't mean life never existed on Venus. Mr Ksanfomaliti believes we should change our thinking about the impossibility of life on Venus, and instead 'assume that certain objects have qualities of living beings'.
The truth, as they say, is out there.
