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Russian Scientist Claims Signs of Life Spotted On Venus

flergum writes "Leonid Ksanfomaliti, an astronomer based at the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences, analyzed photographs taken by a Russian landing probe during 1982 and claims to have found signs of life. Ksanfomaliti says the Russian photographs depict objects resembling a 'disk,' a 'black flap' and a 'scorpion.'"

30 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. WWCSD? by Zaldarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" -The Sagan Standard

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    1. Re:WWCSD? by nirgle · · Score: 5, Funny

      What Would Charlie Sheen Do?

    2. Re:WWCSD? by alphatel · · Score: 5, Funny

      I for one, welcome our new disk, black flap, and scorpion overlords.

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    3. Re:WWCSD? by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, Marcello Truzzi is credited with coining that phrase:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi

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    4. Re:WWCSD? by Gideon+Wells · · Score: 5, Funny

      Claim he has Venusian Scorpian blood?

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    5. Re:WWCSD? by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well if life developed along a similar pattern or if you believe the theory that there are certain "universal forms' like the conch that are simply the most efficient form and therefor will naturally be created then a scorpion would be a most likely early life form as one of the earliest life forms we have records on is Bronto Scorpio or the sea scorpion. The bigger question would be is if it is a scorpion what is its prey?

      While I'd have to see more proof than some fuzzy pictures from 1982 as we humans are known for seeing shapes and trying to "fill in the blanks" I think its arrogant of us to believe all life had to develop the same way we did. just look at the life we've found living next to volcanic vents, that is a truly hellish place with water that would boil us alive yet there is thriving life under all that pressure and heat. of course if i were to hazard a guess I'd say Europa and Ganymede are more likely places to find life simply because there is a good chance there is liquid water and as we know water makes for a great medium for primordial soup,but who knows, maybe liquid methane or hydrogen under the right conditions could also make a primordial soup, who knows.

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    6. Re:WWCSD? by Internetuser1248 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Don't forget this is a 4th hand translated account we are getting here through the notoriously sensationalist media. There was probably a 30 page report in which the scientist outlined which optical effects could most likely result in such an effect on the image through camera error or heat distortion, and then a sentence like "there is a small possibility that the objects were moving of their own volition" which then got grabbed up and made the focus of a story. If you read something stupid in the media, try blaming the media first and the scientists only when you have seen 1) the evidence and 2) the actual conclusions of the scientist in their own words.

      Careers can be ruined by this sort of thing, ignorant journalists and skeptical armchair scientists.

  2. No pictures!~ by zidium · · Score: 5, Funny

    No pictures were included, so how can we form our own, uneducated, opinions???

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    1. Re:No pictures!~ by sanosuke001 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      pics or it didn't happen!

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      -SaNo
    2. Re:No pictures!~ by KBehemoth · · Score: 5, Funny

      Couldn't find any pictures of the aliens, but I did locate schematics of the exploration vehicle: http://i.imgur.com/gER2w.jpg

    3. Re:No pictures!~ by the_fat_kid · · Score: 4, Funny

      scorpion flap or gtfo?

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    4. Re:No pictures!~ by VortexCortex · · Score: 5, Funny

      If putting my disk in a scorpion flap is wrong, I don't want to be right!

  3. Scorpions? by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

    Leonid Ksanfomaliti, ...claims to have found signs of life...objects resembling ... a scorpion

    I haven't heard the Scorpions since the 80s. They were pretty good in their niche. Is this a reunion tour?

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  4. Venera pictures by troon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    See this site for the best processed pictures from the Venera missions. Absolutely fascinating stuff those Russians did then.

    http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_DigitalImages.htm

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    1. Re:Venera pictures by troon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Er, sorry. Try this newer page:

      http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm

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      Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
  5. Well, these ought to be interesting pictures... by orphiuchus · · Score: 5, Informative

    *clicks on article* ...Hmm, ok, no pictures here.
    *googles it* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2090556/Life-Venus-Russian-scientist-claims-seen-scorpion-probe-photographs.html?ito=feeds-newsxml.
    Yea... I'm no astrocryptozoologist, but that doesn't look like life to me.

  6. Intelligence found by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but on earth. We do pattern matching, even when there is none, we see shapes of gods in cluods, of the future in tea leaves, even faces in the moon and mars. This could have been totally random shapes. But of course, if it was life, specially one that are totally different from what we are used to see, could be a step forward for us, still too much people see earth as the center of the universe.

  7. Re:We have to go deeper! by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The author designed some of the instruments on Venera, in fact. I can find several articles by him in the aformentioned journal but nothing that suggests "aliens".

    http://www.springerlink.com/content/0038-0946/?k=Ksanfomaliti

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  8. Re:mirage by AikonMGB · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since when has temperature been measured in kilofarads?

  9. Here's a Single Picture by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Informative

    No pictures were included, so how can we form our own, uneducated, opinions???

    This article from Ria Novosti has one picture with attributions to the scientist and journal. I'm not sure what you're looking at but I am guessing that the object outside of the pod is not a device of theirs -- which leads to a lot of speculation and conjecture. I guess I don't know enough about their sensors/cameras that they were using in 1982 to say whether or not this was some sort of aberration or malfunction of the camera due to extreme temperatures. But that's about the best uneducated opinion I can offer you.

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    1. Re:Here's a Single Picture by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

      Scratch that, I just read some lengthy forums that say that's a shattered lens cap. Here's another panorama with said lens cap pieces. The Daily Mail offers this strange image as evidence ... but that's The Daily Mail so take it with a grain of salt. If that is what all the fuss is about, I'm a little angry I just wasted this much time. Personally I'd assume my camera is experiencing an anomaly due to it being 867 degrees Fahrenheit outside ...

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  10. Re:mirage by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mirage. Or easily explained by the distortion of a lens by heat in desert conditions - this one a scathing 1k F.

    I doubt it. You need temperature variations in order to get this effect (hot ground, colder atmosphere) which is not going to happen on Venus, seeing as most of the heat and light is absorbed in the atmosphere before it touches the ground. You won't even get diurnal temperature variations, as the thermal capacity of the dense armosphere is quite significant, and finally, the convection will smooth out any local temperature inequalities. You simply never get the optical interface necessary for a mirage.

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  11. Re:So... by littlebigbot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What in god's name does a "black flap" look like?

  12. Re:So... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

    What in god's name does a "black flap" look like?

    Usually, kinda black and flappy. :-P

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  13. Looking for the actual pictures? by aglider · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look here

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  14. Re:"Greenhoue effect" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Which is exactly what a greenhouse effect is, moron.

  15. Re:"Greenhoue effect" by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Informative

    The sun is responsible for the heating. The dense atmosphere is responsible for keeping the heat in. Like, y'know, a greenhouse.

    Or did you think that the atmosphere was dense enough to undergo nuclear fusion and release heat, or something?

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  16. Re:mirage by chefmonkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think you're a bit confused about typographical conventions around representation of Celsius. This is a quick and illuminating read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius#Name_and_symbol_typesetting

  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  18. Re:mirage by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uranus has some pretty strong winds too...