If we were looking at the earth from the moon with the aid of a
powerful telescope would we be apt to notice an eruption of Vesuvius
or Katmai or Mauna Loa? Objects four or five miles in diameter
would appear as hazy spots with nothing distinctive or remarkable
in their appearance. Yet vapor and steam arising from terrestrial
volcanoes would be carried by our atmosphere over an area of many
square miles, while there is no atmosphere on the moon to spread the
vapors that may arise from similar volcanic vents. It would have
to be a cataclysmic change indeed to be accepted as indisputable
evidence that change is taking place on the moon, and the days of
gigantic upheavals are probably over on our satellite as well as on
the earth. If volcanic activity is still taking place on the moon it
is probably in a mild form such as a comparatively quiet emission
of gases from volcanic vents and fumaroles. Such forms of activity
would not be plainly visible at this distance, even with the aid of
powerful telescopes. The problem of detecting changes on the moon is
complicated by the fact that a change of illumination greatly alters
the appearance of all lunar markings. Such a change is continually
taking place in the course of the month. A marking that stands out
in bold relief at lunar sunrise or sunset will change entirely in
appearance a few days later under a high sun or even disappear from
view entirely. These changes in phase or illumination have to be
taken account of in the search for evidence of actual change. To
decide whether or not change has actually taken place the object must
be viewed under similar conditions, so far as they can be obtained.
Even when special care is taken in this respect the suspected
evidence of change is usually "explained away" as due to differences
in illumination or seeing, by those who have not observed the object
themselves and are not in sympathy with the view that the moon is
anything but a dead world.
As regards the question of life on the moon, it is interesting to
consider the facts brought out by investigations made by scientists
connected with the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute
in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The volcanic activity there
takes the form of eruptions from numerous small vents or fumaroles
and ninety-nine per cent. of the emanations are water vapor. It was
observed that blue-green algae were living at the edge of active
vents emitting ammonia compounds at a temperature of 212° F. They
were not found, however, near vents from which ammonia compounds
were not being emitted. If life exists under such conditions it is
conceivable that suitable conditions for the support of certain forms
of life, animal as well as vegetable, may be found in low-lying
valleys and crevices and upon the floors of craters, where certain
gases essential to the support of life might be evolved from many
small volcanic vents and fumaroles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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