“Snake”: New Object of Hypothetical Venusian Fauna

On March 1 and 5, 1982, experiments in television photography instrumented by the landers VENERA-13 and 14 returned panoramas of the Venus surface at the landing site. Over the past 31 years, no similar missions have been sent to Venus. In connection with the renewed interest in what was occurring during the experiment and to the discovery of manifestations of possible life revealed on some of the pictures, the panoramas were re-examined.?Analysis of treated once again VENERA-14 panoramic images revealed a?“snake”?object about 40 cm in size possessing apparent terramorphic features. The snake’s body stands out with its honeycomb, spotty surface against the stone plates close by. The “snake”?can be included into the list of the most significant findings of the hypothetical Venusian fauna. Apart from that, of interest is a?“dove”?object, although details of its structure cannot be discerned. The snake’s body show slow movements, which is another evidence of the Venusian fauna’s very slow style of activity, which appears to be associated with its energy constraints, and that is more likely, with the properties of its internal medium. The terramorphic features of the fauna, if they are confirmed, may point out outstandingly important and yet undiscovered general laws of the animated nature.

Numerical Modeling of the Initial Formation of Cyclonic Vortices at Tropical Latitudes

To investigate the initial formation of large-scale vortices at tropical latitudes a regional non-hydrostatic mathematical model of the wind system of the lower atmosphere, developed earlier in the Polar Geophysical Institute, is utilized. Three-dimensional distributions of the atmospheric parameters in the height range from 0 to 15 km over a limited region of the Earth’s surface are produced by the utilized model. Simulations are performed for the case when the limited three-dimensional simulation domain is intersected by an intertropical convergence zone in the west-east direction. Simulation results indicated that the origin of two convexities in the north direction in the configuration of the intertropical convergence zone can lead to the formation of three distinct tropical cyclones during the period of about four days.

Environmental Low Energy Gamma Rays Measurements in Brazilian Tropics Region During 2016

Low energy gamma radiation （0.2-10.0） MeV near the Earth＇s surface has several origins. Primary and secondary cosmic radiations with interactions of very high energy protons （〉 1 GeV） in terrestrial atmosphere are the main sources. The second most important source near the surface of the Earth and in the tropical and equatorial regions is the radon gas （Rn-222） that decays in alpha particles and gamma rays in this energy range. Also the telluric radionuclides 238U, 235U, 40K and 232Th in decays produce gamma radiation with different intensities at different locations on the surface of the Earth. Other sources less present are electrical discharges （lightning strikes） and man-made radioactive sources for medical, dental and industrial applications. In this work, it is shown that measurements of these components during all year 2016 are carried out at the ITA （Technological Institute of Aeronautics） campus in Sao Jose dos Campos, SP, Brazil and their possible correlations with atmospheric phenomena.

Observatory science with eXTP

In this White Paper we present the potential of the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry(eXTP) mission for studies related to Observatory Science targets. These include flaring stars, supernova remnants, accreting white dwarfs, low and high mass X-ray binaries, radio quiet and radio loud active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. eXTP will be excellently suited to study one common aspect of these objects: their often transient nature. Developed by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, the eXTP mission is expected to be launched in the mid 2020s.