Are the Planets Inhabited?Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)
Science
Are the Planets Inhabited?
Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)
Life on other planets
But if vegetation took the same forms on the Moon as on the Earth, and
passed through the same changes, we should have no difficulty in
perceiving the evidence of its presence. If we were transported to the
Moon and turned our eyes earthward, we should not need the assistance of
any telescope in order to detect terrestrial changes which would be
plainly connected with the seasonal changes of vegetation. The Earth would
present to us a disc four times the apparent diameter of the Moon, and on
that disc Canada would offer as great an area as the whole of the Moon
does to us. We could easily follow with the naked eye the change from the
glittering whiteness of the aspect of Canada when snow-covered in winter,
to the brown, green and gold which would succeed each other during the
brighter months of the year. And this type of change would alternate
between the northern and southern hemispheres, for the winter of Canada is
the summer of the Argentine, and conversely.
We ought, therefore, to have no difficulty in observing seasonal changes
on the Moon, if such take place. But nothing of the kind has ever been
remarked; no changes sufficiently pronounced for us to be sure of them are
ever witnessed. Here and there some slight mutations have been suspected,
nearly all accomplishing their cycle in the course of a lunar day; so that
it is difficult to separate them from changes purely apparent, brought
about by the change in the incidence of the illumination.
The difference in appearance of a given area on the Moon when viewed under
a low Sun and when the Sun is on the meridian is very striking. In the
first case everything is in the boldest relief; the shadows are long and
intensely black; the whole area under examination in the telescope seems
as if it might be handled. Under the high Sun, the contrasts are gone; the
scenery appears flat, many of the large conspicuous markings are only
recognized with difficulty. Thus the terse remark of Mädler, "The full
Moon knows no Maginus," has become a proverb amongst selenographers; yet
Maginus is a fine walled plain some eighty miles in diameter, and its
rampart attains a height in parts of 14,000 feet. Maginus lies near Tycho,
which has been well named "the lunar metropolis," for from it radiates the
principal system of bright streaks conspicuous on the full Moon. These
white streaks appear when the shadows have vanished or are growing short;
they are not seen under a low Sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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