Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1900-10-25
NOT A COLD PLANET.
THE MOON is, IN FACT, EXACTLY
THE CONTRARY.
Scientists Claim Its Climate IL Too
Sultry for Human Beings nhabit
-Our Satellite IL Also ..Dject to
Great Extremes of Cold.

Astronomers and scientists now tell
us that the old popular idea OF the
moon being frigid body Is mistake.
On the contrary, they declare that the
sarth's satellite Is an intensely hot
body; SO hot, in fact, that life as 1t Is
known on the earth could not exist
there. 1.-THE moon Is so hot" says an
official of the United States naval ON
servatOry, that no creature known 10
Us could endure contact with her sur
face and live. Nor Is this fact difficult
10 realize when we have reflected lit
lie while For instance, we know that
he surface of the moon Is exposed dur
M the long lunar day, a fortnight OF
our terrestrial time, to the rays or q
sun fully us hot as that which gives us
)ur daily heat. With no atmosphere to
temper the action of these rays-not by
impeding their passage, but by bear
ing aloft the cloud-veil which the sun
raises from our oceans to form pro-
tecting canopy for us-the surface OF
the moon must necessarily become In
tensely hot even before the middle Of
the lunar day.
1t is true that the absence of an at
mOsphere must cause the moons heat
to be rapidly radiated away into space.
1t Is our atmosphere which retains our
heat and acts in regulating our tenn
perature. Thus at the submits of lofty
mountains, where the atmosphere Is
rare, Notwithstanding the intense heat
Of midday, SO rapidly does this heat
pass away that snow forever crowns
the mountain heights. Yet, although
the moons heat must pass away even
more rapidly, this does not prevent the
heating of the actual surface Of that
satellite any more than tho rarity Of
the air prevents the Alpine traveller
from feeling the action Of the suns d.
rect heat even when the air IN shadow
is icy cold.
"Sir John Herschel long since point
ed out that the moons surface must be
heated at lunar midday-or, rather, at
the time Of lunar mid-heat, correspond
ing to about o'clock in our after
noon-to a degree probably SURPRISING
the neat OF DOIllnS water.
mot alone does the moon itself pos
sess this extreme heat, but 1t reflects a
certain amount thereof on the earth.
And this is not ALL the moon gives out
heat by which it has itself been warm
ed. Nor must these two effects Of re-
Elected and radiated heat be confound-
I'D. The distinction between them may
be illustrated in the following man.
ner: If on q bright summer day we
take a piece of smooth, but not too
well-polished metal, and by means Of 1t
reflected the suns light upon the face,
u sensation Of heat will be experienced
which Is reflected sun heat; but II we
wait. while still holding the metal as
described, until 1t has become quite
hot under the solar rays, we feel
sensation of heat from the mere prox-
Unity of the plate to the face, even
when 1t Is held SO as not to reflect sun
neat. There can be produced by this
rxperiment-tirst. reflected heat alone
before the metal has grown hot; next,
the heat which the metal gives out it.
self when warmed by the SUMS rays:
and lastly. the two kinds Of heat to-
gether. when the metal Is caused to
reflect sun heat and also (being held
near the face) to give out perceptible
quantity of its own warmth. 1t Is the
last stage Of the experiment which
produces the same effect as the reflect
ed and radiated heat of the moon upon
the earth's surface.
But we must not think that the
moon adds materially to the heat Of the
summer weather. The actual increase
Of temperature derived from the sill
very orb can be easily realized when
we consider that II the moon were ex-
actly as hot as boiling water we
should receive from 1t Just as much
heat as would be derived from small
globe as hot as boiling water. so
placed as to preserve the same ratio of
size and distance as the moon does to
The EARTH"