A Russian scientist thought he saw evidence of living creatures on an old photo of Venus.
Summary: A claim by a Russian scientist that he saw living creatures in photos taken by Venerea-13, a Soviet probe to Venus 30 years ago, has been debunked. According to a Russian news service, Leonid Ksanfomaliti, a respected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says he spotted several interesting objects on the Venetian surface in the photos. The features, described as a disc and a scorpion, seemed to change locations from one photo to the next.
"Let's boldly suggest that the objects' morphological features would allow us to say that they are living," Ksanfomaliti stated, according to the news service, Ria Novosti. Ksanfomaliti worked on unmanned Soviet missions to Venus during the 1970s and 1980s. His words have made headlines around the world, but could they have been mistranslated or misconstrued?
In one photo, an object shaped somewhat like a crab stands inches away from the Venera-13. In another Venera-13 image, the crab-like object appears in a different location. But Jonathan Hill, a technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State U., says higher-resolution versions of these images show the crab-like object is really a mechanical component. The same object shows up in a photo taken by an identical landing probe, Venera-14, and is in the same position relative to the spacecraft.
NASA says the half-circle components seen in the photos are camera lens covers which popped off the Venera probes when they landed. The reason they appear in different places in the two Venera-13 photographs suggesting movement is that the space probe had both a front and a back camera. One image shows the front camera lens cap and the other the rear lens cap. The scorpion-like creature in the photo has been identified as processed noise.
(Radar image of Venus from NASA.)
To read the entire article, click on LIVE SCIENCE.
Comment: The old adage “Seeing is believing” falls short of always being completely accurate. The most famous case of mistaken identity in the search for life in the solar system is the Face on Mars, which turned out to be merely a trick played by shadows.
People do tend sometimes to see only what they want to see. Unless we are born pessimists, we see things in our favorite sports team that give us confidence of future success on the field or court. We tend to see the leaders of our chosen political party as being more pure and gifted than what they likely are.
In science too, the adage often falls short. Secularists see similarities between various animals as evidence of their having a common ancestor. Bible believers see these similarities as evidence of a common Creator. Secularists seem to see the discovery of new planets as a promise of eventually discovering life in space. Bible believers see life as not possible without a living Creator.
What we really need is a perfect set of eyes that are not capable of misperceiving — and we have them in the testimony of the God who sees everything (Proverbs 15:3). God sees that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), in desperate need of a Savior (“The soul who sins is the one who will die” Ezekial 18:20). But we see in His Word the path to this salvation. “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved” (Acts 15:11).
While we can see everything we need to see for the present, when we look into the future our vision is clouded. St. Paul says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” What heaven will hold for our eyes will truly be beyond human words. The last book of the Bible compares the beauty of heaven to that of precious jewels (Revelation 21:10-11). Even those who are physically blind believers at present will be able to witness this beauty, but not those who are spiritually blind or, in other words, those who do not see their Savior in the person of Jesus Christ.
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QUESTION OF THE DAY
Who was the youngest person ever to discover a supernova?
A 10-year-old Canadian girl by the name of Kathryn Gray. She made her big discovery in January of 2011. (Photo of a supernova from NASA.)Source: Parade (12/18/11)
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