The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-10-04
Life on Planets
Is a Possibility
Astronomer Says There May
Be Habitable Bodies
Outside Our System.

PRINCETON. - 1t is reasonable
to suppose there is life, like that
on earth, in some distant parts of
the vast universe outside the polar
system, according to Dr. Henry Nor
ris Russell Princeton astronomer.
This is based on discoveries made
since the war started. DR.. Russell
is one of the foremost astronomical
authorities on the possibility of life
outside the world.
Outside the system composed of
our sun and its circulating planets,
he said, there was no evidence for
the existence of other planets till
within the last three years. Recent
Photographic observations, however,
show that several of the nearest
stars have invisible companions, re-
volving about them, which can be
detected because their attraction
causes the bright stars to move in
Slightly wavy curves.
"The smallest of these compan-,
ions are certainly dark bodies, and
may fairly be called planets. We
can find small companions of this
sort only if they belong to some of
the few hundred stars which lie
nearest to the sun. Among the many
millions of remoter stars, there are
likely very great numbers of them.
Three Habitable Bodies.
Though the conditions for habit
ability are fairly stringent, there
may be thousands or more of habit
able worlds among them.
"1n our own sun planet system,
there are only three possible habit
able bodies-Venus, the earth, and
Mars. Life is in full blast on the
earth; and has probably existed,
and may still exist, on Mars. That
is, life has scored on two out of
three tries.
ut is therefore reasonable to sup
pose that within the vast expanse of
the universe there may be very
many other bodies which are actu-
ally the abodes of life"
DR.. Russell explained why among
the suns planets only three have
the possibilities of life. No kind
of life that science knows exists in
heat which can boil the water
out of it. That rules out the planet
Mercury, which has monday tenn
perature of 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some plants can stay alive while
their tissues are frozen, but they
don't grow while frozen, and that
rules out all the remaining planets
except Venus, Earth and Mars, be-
cause the others have temperatures
of 100 to 300 below zero.
Mars, Earth and Venus form a
trio where the evidence is that life
may have started first on Mars, far
thest of the trio from the sun, and
now is nearly extinct there; second
may have come to the earth, and
third, in a far distant future, may ap-
pear on Venus, which is closest of
the three to the sun.
Venus Yelled i'm Haze.
DR.. Russell explained that along
with temperatures above freezing
and below boiling, life requires oxy-
gen, water vapor, land some carbon
dioxide in the air. Mars has all three
but very little oxygen, only about
one-thousandth that of the earth. |
Mars red rocks show where it's
oxygen went, combining with iron
to form rust over billions of years.
The same oxygen loss can occur
on earth, and does, but it is too slow
to be important to present mortals. |
Venus has large quantity of car
bon dioxide in her air but too little
oxygen and water vapor to meas
ure. She is continuously yelled in
clouds or haze. Her top tempera-
lures are about half that of boiling
water.
This" said DR.. Russell, "indi-
Gates strongly that there is no life
on Venus. 1t is, however, very in
teresting to note that, except for
the higher temperatures, conditions
on Venus are decidedly similar to
the theoretical picture of what our
earth was like before life started
on it."