St Fidelis Seminary - Skullcap Yearbook (Herman, PA)

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Lglie giiclelianj LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS BY STEPHEN KATO Have you ever considered the all-absorbing question Is there life-on other worlds? This problem has conjured up myriad thoughts and imaginative stories in the minds of men from time immemorial. Are we correct in thinking that our Earth, a mere spec when compared to the vast universe, is the only'spot where life exists? The sun and the other stars can, of course, be ruled out from the start, for, as we all know, they are mighty furnaces of intense and incessant fire. But what can be said concerning life on the moon or the planets? One of the greatest factors excluding any possibilities of life on our satellite is the total absence of atmosphere. The moon is not large enough to exert the necessary gravitational pull for retaining its oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen molecules that make up our own atmosphere. These vital gaseous elements were dissipated into space millions of years ago. With our large telescopes of today we can observe large mountain ranges, great craters and extensive plains on the moon, but no signs of life have thus far been noticed. Astronomers unanimously agree that our moon is a lifeless orb. The planet Jupiter, on the other hand, presents an opposite picture. The largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, commands too great a gravitational pull and therefore retains too much atmosphere including harmful gases. Spectroscopic analysis shows that Jupiter is devoid of all oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor-indis- pensables for life, on the other hand its air contains much ammonia and marsh gas, better known as the poisonous firedamp. The other large planets, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune can be briefly disposed of. Being much further away from the sun and also containing ammonia and marsh gas in their atmosphere, these planets are no better than frozen waters, incapable of sustaining any form of life. Returning to the nearer planets we find Mercury too small to hold an atmosphere with its slight gravitational pull. Moreover, its design of rotation is such that it keeps the same face toward the sun perpetually. This sunward side of the planet is intensely hot. The other side has everlasting night and continuous winter. We can conclude that Mercury at best is a barren, level plain, without any significant features whatsoever. Venus, the brightest object in the heavens, is approximately the same size as our own planet. Venus has a long day, it takes some thirty of ours to make one on Venus. The temperature varies from 80'F. on the sunlit face to 40' below zero on the dark face. Despite this phenomenon, the temperature is not such as to rule out all possibilities of life. A great scarcity of oxygen, combined with an abundance of carbon dioxide, paints the picture even more dismal. In general, however, it may bw and this is purely hypothetical--that Venus is in the same state now as our Earth might have been millions and millions of years ago, in the primitive stage of life. Our last planet, Mars, a beautiful orange-colored object in the heavens, shows more sign of life than any of the other celestial realms. First of all, there appears on Mars seasonal markings that suggest polar caps, which become larger in winter and smaller in summer, a faint greenish hue taking the place of the disappearing white. In the atmosphere of this planet, little if any oxygen and carbon dioxide is present. Moreover, even around the equatorial regions, the temperature rises to only S0 F., and with the setting of the sun falls to 130' below zero. This would necessarily mean

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My Play Toy IOHN VENDEMIA, '41 I lay my play toy at His feet, Wrapped- Then begged Him please to open it, And set its beat again. Th'dP hEhC up in grief and pain. .Qferarqy

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Lglie Qliclelianj that the Martians, if there be any, are an extremely rugged race. However, the consensus of opinion among astronomers has it that life on Mars, if existent, is almost extinct and is of the lowest nature. It is compared to our own planet perhaps some thousand million years from now. Possibly the best hypothesis thus far advanced, and accepted by most astronomers, for the birth of our own planetary system is that of Russell and Lyttleton of Princeton. They claim that millions of years ago another star came too close to our own star, the sung and, by its overwhelming gravitational pull, raised a great tidal protuberance on the sun, which became larger and larger until a tremendous amount of matter was drawn out. As the stranger star passed on its way, the tidal wave on the sun subsidedg but the matter drawn out condensed into embryonic planets, and grew larger by the infall of planetesimals and meteors. Further disturbances between the planets account for the formation of the satellites, and the mutual attraction of the planets altered their orbits into their present condition. Stars, however, are so extremely far apart that the above incident rarely happens. Calculations suggest that it may occur once in every 5,000 million years. Therefore we may conclude that planetary systems are not the rule, but rather the exception. In short, it seems that in any planetary system, the conditions necessary for life must be nearly perfect. If the planet is too near its parent sun, the temperature will be too high for life to exist 5 if it is too far away, the temperature will be too cold. If it is smaller than our Earth, it will lose its atmosphere 5 if it is larger, it will keep too much and be poisonous. Finally, let me state that there is no absolute evidence whether for or against life on other worlds. But one fact is certain. The conditions favorable to life seem to be so exacting and complicated that the possibility at the most is very slight. And why should we wonder at such a design of the Creator of all things. Indeed, it should strengthen our belief all the more in a good and ever present Divine Providence. 1' M A 1.1:-rrmz Fon ME? ASTRONOMERJS HAVEN