THE PLANET VENUS

Northern Advocate, 29 December 1934, Page 11

THE PLANET VENUS

MAY BE ANOTHER EARTH SCIENTIST’S VIEWS The planet Venus repeating the history of the earth was envisaged by Sir James Jeans in a recent broadcast talk. Venus, said Sir James, had an atmosphere which he described as “rather steamy.” It was near enough to the sun to receive almost double the amount of radiation the earth received, and was completely enveloped in thick clouds so dense that we could not see any of the permanent surface beneath. As no oxygen could be detected on Venus it seemed likely that there was no vegetation on the planet and possibly no life like the higher kinds that existed on the earth.

“If we go far back enough in time we come back to when the earth was substantially hotter than now, but with no vegetation on its surface. Perhaps Venus is rather like what the earth was then. And if the Venus of to-day is like the earth was in those far-past days perhaps the Venus of the future may be like the world of today. “In brief, Venus may repeat the history of the world. First vegetation and then higher forms of life may apr pear in due course on Venus as they have already done on earth. On the other hand, it may be that some strange and rare accident was responsible for the appearance of life on the earth—an accident such as will not occur twice in the history of our solar system, and perhaps not even in the history of the whole universe. Mercury’s Grip On Moon. Mercury always turned the same face to the sun, just as the moon always turned the same face to the earth. The moon was held so powerfully in the gravitational grip of the earth—almost like a big boy holding a small boy by pinioned arms—that it was not able to turn completely round. It only had energy enough to wriggle feebly. These slight wrigglings were called liberations, and except for them the moon always presented the same face to the earth, the face we always saw with the old man in it. The face of Mercury must be pretty hot, because it was nearer the sun than the earth, and the sun’s radiations were about six times as intense as they were with us. So far as we knew, it was a dead world of mountains and deserts and probably volcanic ash. like the moon. No Life On Mars. Sir James said that the climate of Mars was distinctly chilly, and shpwed us what the earth may be like in the remote future. “By the time the earth has become as cold as Mars is how, all life may possibly have vanished from its surface. It is interesting to wonder whether in the same way life has in some past age arisen on Mars and disappeared before the increasing cold, or is it perchance still there? "There is certainly no positive evidence of life; no one, for instance, has ever seen the glitter of water or the lights of cities. On the other hand, the planet is so distant even when it is at its nearest that in any case one can hardly hope to- do so.” Few astronomers now believed in the reality of the supposed canals on Mars, and with their disappearance we were left without the slightest shred of evidence whether life existed or ever had existed on Mars.