The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-12
IS THE MOON ALIVE?
A Claim That It Is Not a Dead
World.
MADE BY PROF. w. H. PICKERING
He Thinks He Has Detected n Very
Rarified Lunar At
nOsphere.
New York Mail and EXPRESS

Professor w. H. Pickering, brother of
Professor E. G. Pickering, director of the
Harvard Observatory and one of, the best
known of American astronomers, declares
that the belief long held by scientists
that the moon is a dead, cold world is
without foundation. On the contrary, the
earth's satellite. Professor Pickering
says, is very live and active one. Not
Only is it proha BILE that the moon has an
atmosphere with moisture and carbonic
acid, but there is reason to assert that it
has volcanoes, now active, and possibly
vegetation. All this is very unorthodox
and is vigorously ccnbatted by other and
equally eminent astronomers. The con-
troversy is attracting good deal of at
tention :ust now.
- What the Shadows Tell.
Observations at the Harvard station at
Arequipa, Peru, are the basis for Pro-
fessor Pickering'sf conclusions. Text
books on astronomy mention as one of the
proofs that the moon has no atmosphere
the fact that it has no twilight. All the
shadows, the textbooks say, are perfectly
black. The lunar craters. as the run
I rises upon them, pass from the densest
darkness to the broadest daylight instan-
taneously. But Professor Pickering says
that in the clear atmosphere of the An
des, when the moon is a. first or last
quarter, twilight appearance may nearly
always be detected as a faint glow pro-
longing the cusps. This observation
would indicate an atmosphere as dense
at the surface of the moon as the atmos-
phere of the earth at an altitude of forty
miles.
Photographs taken at Arequipa, of Ju-
piter just, before and just after occulta-
ton by the moon, apparently show a
slight flattening Of the disk, also an in
| dication of lunar atmosphere. From the
figures given by Professor Pickering, this
observation would give an atmosphere
equal to that of the earth at an altitude
of forty five miles. This, of course, Is a
| very thin atmosphere, but it is more than
most astronomers are willing to allow the
earth's fair neighbor.
Evidences of Activity.
It is however, on the evidences for
| the present activity of volcanoes on the
moon that Professor Pickering mainly
| rests his case. After a careful mapping
of the details presented by the lunar era
ter Plato the professor concludes that this
portion of the moons surface is subject
| to frequent and continual change and that
it is in state of volcanic activity "more
| active than any area Of similar size upon
the surface of the earth" Professor Pick
ering finds no evidences of lava, but he
does find something analogous to snow OF
clouds caused presumably by the escape
of steam and carbonic acid That the
latter gas and moisture exist in but small
quantities he admits, but the fact thai
they exist at all has never been generally
admitted by astronomers.
| Allowing the presence of water, Prof
Pickering has little difficulty in explain
ing certain peculiar appearances on TIT
moon as caused by some form of vegeta-
ton. These appearances are the SO
called variable spots. These markings
which are associated with certain craters
are darkest just after full moon when thu
! sun is in the lunar zenith, and are invis-
1 ible when the sun is lowest. Hence they
cannot be due to shadows. Nor can the!
/ be small bodies of water, for they are
sometimes found on hillsides. The only
adequate explanation issthat they ars
! really vegetation and, after he has dem
onstrated the presence of moisture in thu
moons atmosphere, Professor Pickerin,
believes there can be no other valid OBJ
i lection to the plant life theory.
The variability of these spots sucl
cases as when they cover the entire aooi