Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24
DE- LAuRENCE M. CoCKADAY.

BY LAURENCE M. CoCKADAY.
THE formation or existence o.
~ planets around other suns II
II the sky is rare, according to 9
u statement made recently By
Prof. Arthur H. Compton of the
physics department of the University OF
Chicago. He said also that planets on
which life might exist were even more
rare, although there are millions Of
stars In the sky.
The possibility Of life, and especially
Intelligent life. existing In other parts
Of the universe is one that has attracted
the thought and fired the imagination
OF scientists and laymen alike. Fiction
writer's often use the idea in stories,
even going further and presupposing a
later date in human affairs, when men
shall be able with scientific machinery
to travel to other habitable worlds and
discover other creatures like man In
earlier or later stages of development
than ourselves. Such ideas are only
conjecture.
Porter Doubts Rarity.
This question of whether among the
myriads OF stars there may be others
like the sun which have planets fitted
to be the abode Of life and actually in
habited by intelligent beings Is one
that cannot be definitely answered.
There are many scientists who agree
that negative answer would be un-
warranted, One Of these. Jermain g..
Porter of the Cincinnati Observatory,
recently said, in replying to Compton,
that mo telescope, unfortunately, will
show us the planets of other suns. Our
views on the subject must be based on
what we find In our own system. Here
Tin our solar System) we have eight
planets (now nine) revolving around
the sun, and six of these have satellites
forming miniature solar systems. Does
this look as though such systems were q
freak OF nature rare occurrence?
That double stars have planetary sys-
TENS may be doubtful, but there Is abb
solutely no reason for the assumption
that the formation of families Of at
tendant worlds may not be the ordinary
course Of evolution for the single stars.
Natural Laws Universal.
"As for life on these worlds. we have
In our system one out Of eight that IL
fitted for life, and another, Venus,
which may be habitable. Why should
the proportion be different throughout
the universe? Surely the success OF the
noble experiment Of life on the earth
has not been so notable that we may
not hope for better results elsewhere"
OF course, the same natural laws that
rule on the earth are in operation all
over the universe, as scientists have
been able to determine through their
investigations Of the heavenly bodies
in their physical motions. The same
kinds of matter are present every
where, as determined by spectrum an
alysis and by study of the wanderers
that come from the sky-the meteors.
It Is entirely probable that, even If they
are ''rare," there must be hundreds or
thousands Of planetary systems among
the billions of stars that can be per-
ceived.
OF these there would be some here
and there, ct least. which should be
large enough to possess gravitational
attraction sufficient to retain an at
nosphere, with water condensed upon
their surfaces and rotating at such dis
tances from their sun that the tenn
peratures would be life-supporting. On
planets such as this life undoubtedly
can exist as 1t does on the earth and
perhaps on Venus and Mars. Whether
there are many or few of such planets
we cannot be sure.
Formation Of Stars Studied.
Many scientists look for the answer
q this question in the formation OF
Che stars How are stars nnade?" they
ask. "If you ind out how the stars
are formed you will probably also dnd
cut how the planets came into being"
This Is also largely q matter Of specu-
iation. One idea is that the matter
which forms star was originally dark
and cold, perhaps widely separated
through space, and these particles OF
matter were attracted together by grav-
rational force and gradually warmed
by friction as they contracted into q
large mass.
Clouds Of matter Of this sort do exist
In the voids Of space and they are
known rs the dark nebulae. Many as
tronomers think that 1t Is to these dark
clouds Of matter that we may look TO
find the birthplace of the stars. Some
hold that all of the matter may not
have solidified In one large lump, but In
other and smaller Jumps that would be-
come planets.
still another theory, suggested by Sir
James Jeans, turns to the so-called
spiral nebulae as the birthplace Of the
stars. According to this hypothesis
great, swiftly rotating masses of rare
fed gases would throw or sheets or
streams Of matter which, If massive
enough, would tend to break UP into
smaller masses, which then might
slowly condense into compact forms,
such as stars.