XXI IS THE MOON A DEAD WORLD?
It has been a generally accepted belief among astronomers for years that the moon is a dead world devoid of air and water and so, necessarily, lifeless. It is certain that the moon has no extensive atmosphere such as envelops our own planet. There is abundant proof of this fact. The edge of the lunar disk is clear-cut. Whenever, as happens frequently, the moon passes between us and a star the disappearance of the star is instantaneous. There is no gradual dimming or refraction of the star's light by atmospheric vapors. Moreover, lunar shadows are harsh and black. There is no evidence of diffusion of light on the moon by atmospheric gases.
The absence of water or water vapor on the visible surface of the moon, at least in any appreciable quantity, is plainly evident to anyone who observes the moon through the telescope. Even with small telescopes, objects five miles or so in diameter can be readily detected and clouds drifting over the surface could not possibly escape our observation if they existed.
Bodies of water, great or small, would be plainly visible and would besides give rise to water vapor and clouds, which we would not fail to detect.
Since the surface of the moon is unscreened by air and water vapor to absorb the incoming rays from the sun, and the outgoing radiations from the surface, the extremes of temperature between day and night are very great, and are augmented by the fact that the lunar day equals the lunar month in length, so that fourteen days of untempered heat are followed by fourteen days of frigid darkness. Observations of the rate of radiation from the moon's surface during total eclipses of the moon indicate that the moon's radiation is very rapid, and that its temperature during the height of the lunar day probably approaches 200° F., while at the lunar midnight it may have fallen to 100° below zero F., or even lower.
With air and water both lacking and such extremes of temperature existing why should we seriously consider the question of life on the moon?
This is the point of view of the majority of astronomers and it seems well taken. Yet many astronomers who have made a special study of the lunar surface for years under all conditions of illumination and phase, and have most carefully observed and mapped and photographed its characteristic markings, are agreed that there are evidences that changes are taking place on the moon, and recently Prof. W. H. Pickering has expressed the belief, substantiated by drawings, that there is a progressive change of color or darkening within certain lunar craters with the advance of the lunar day, indicating, in his opinion, a rapid vegetational growth that springs up in the height of the lunar day and dies out as the lunar night approaches.
Some years ago certain selenographers suggested that there might exist in the numberless crater-pits and craters, in the deep-lying maria or "seas," and in the clefts and rills and cracks that form intricate systems all over the lunar surface, certain exhalations from the surface and heavy vapors including possibly carbon dioxide and water vapor to temper the extremes of the long lunar days and night and furnish the necessary medium for the support of certain forms of animal and vegetable life.
Many astronomers, including a number who are not in sympathy with the above view, believe that snow and ice exist on the moon, even though water in the form of liquid and vapor is not observable. All the extremely brilliant portions of the surface, according to some astronomers, are covered with snow and ice. Certainly, some portions of the moon's surface reflect sunlight as brilliantly as if they were covered with freshly fallen snow, while other portions appear to be black by contrast. There also appears to be evidence that certain small markings, described as crater-cones and resembling our terrestrial volcanoes more than any other lunar feature, are at times temporarily obscured from view by a veil of vapors. Many observers believe that these crater-cones are active volcanic vents, and that there is considerable volcanic activity still taking place upon the moon.
These small crater-cones resemble, we are told, parasitic cones found on the sides of terrestrial volcanoes, and they are frequently seen on the floors of craters closely associated with light streaks. These crater-cones appear under a high sun as minute white spots and can be studied to advantage only with powerful instruments. The Italian astronomer, Maggini, observing the floor of the lunar crater, Plato, in 1916 noted that one of the small crater-cones that exist there in great numbers, was temporarily obscured from view by a cloud of reddish vapors, and Prof. W. H. Pickering, at Arequipa, Peru, observing the same region some years ago, believed that he saw evidence of change in some of these small markings. The crater, Plato, has probably been more carefully studied than any other portion of the lunar surface. It is sixty miles in diameter and may be seen even without a telescope as a dark "eye" not far from the northern edge of the moon. Its floor is one of the darkest objects in the moon—a dark steel-grey in color—and there is no doubt that for some unknown reason its dark hue deepens from the time the sun has an altitude of twenty degrees until after full moon. It has a brilliant white wall rising from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above its floor, crowned with several lofty peaks and intersected by a number of valleys and passes. The spots and faint light markings on the floor have been the object of much study with small or moderate sized instruments, and at least six of them are known to be crater-cones. Since they can only be studied to advantage with powerful instruments and as such instruments are rarely used for a systematic study of lunar markings, it is difficult to settle the controversy as to whether they have changed in appearance or have been at any time obscured by vapors. Most lunar observing is done—necessarily—with smaller instruments because the majority of astronomers appear to have accepted the view that the moon is a dead world, and those who are engaged in astronomical work with our greatest telescopes seem to feel that other fields of research will prove more fruitful. Possibly it is for this reason that we know so little about our nearest neighbor in space! There are at least as many unsolved problems confronting us on the moon as there are among the distant stars.
Geologists tell us that more oxygen is to be found in the first six feet of the earth's crust than in all of the atmosphere above. Does oxygen not exist in the surface rocks of the moon as well?
Volcanic action, we are told, is primarily an escape of gases from the interior, chiefly hydrogen, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, sulphur, and various compounds, as well as vast quantities of steam. Beneath the surface chemical change is continually taking place which results in the release of an enormous amount of heat. Some of the gases mentioned above combine with the oxygen in the surface rocks and heat is evolved. It is a known fact that there is great inherent heat in the earth's surface crust. Why not in the moon's surface crust as well?
The water that would be expelled in the form of steam from volcanic vents on the moon would be transformed immediately into hoar-frost, snow and ice and would settle down upon the flanks of the crater-cones or vents.
It should be borne in mind that only volcanic activity on an enormous scale would be plainly visible to us even with the powerful telescopes at our command. Ordinary eruptions such as occur on our own planet would be very difficult to detect. Since the escaping vapors would rapidly pass into the solid state and settle down upon the flanks of the crater-cones or vents, we would observe in general little if any change in an object unless we chanced to be looking at it at the time of the eruption, when it might appear to be temporarily obscured by a veil of vapors. What are the chances that we would be carefully observing at the precise time of an eruption, a minute marking, two or three miles in diameter, on a surface as large as all of North America, a surface that is covered with some 30,000 charted craters, numberless crater-pits, streaks, rays, spots, clefts and rills in intricate systems, mountain chains and valleys and a mass of intricate detail?
If we were looking at the earth from the moon with the aid of a powerful telescope would we be apt to notice an eruption of Vesuvius or Katmai or Mauna Loa? Objects four or five miles in diameter would appear as hazy spots with nothing distinctive or remarkable in their appearance. Yet vapor and steam arising from terrestrial volcanoes would be carried by our atmosphere over an area of many square miles, while there is no atmosphere on the moon to spread the vapors that may arise from similar volcanic vents. It would have to be a cataclysmic change indeed to be accepted as indisputable evidence that change is taking place on the moon, and the days of gigantic upheavals are probably over on our satellite as well as on the earth. If volcanic activity is still taking place on the moon it is probably in a mild form such as a comparatively quiet emission of gases from volcanic vents and fumaroles. Such forms of activity would not be plainly visible at this distance, even with the aid of powerful telescopes. The problem of detecting changes on the moon is complicated by the fact that a change of illumination greatly alters the appearance of all lunar markings. Such a change is continually taking place in the course of the month. A marking that stands out in bold relief at lunar sunrise or sunset will change entirely in appearance a few days later under a high sun or even disappear from view entirely. These changes in phase or illumination have to be taken account of in the search for evidence of actual change. To decide whether or not change has actually taken place the object must be viewed under similar conditions, so far as they can be obtained. Even when special care is taken in this respect the suspected evidence of change is usually "explained away" as due to differences in illumination or seeing, by those who have not observed the object themselves and are not in sympathy with the view that the moon is anything but a dead world.
As regards the question of life on the moon, it is interesting to consider the facts brought out by investigations made by scientists connected with the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The volcanic activity there takes the form of eruptions from numerous small vents or fumaroles and ninety-nine per cent. of the emanations are water vapor. It was observed that blue-green algae were living at the edge of active vents emitting ammonia compounds at a temperature of 212° F. They were not found, however, near vents from which ammonia compounds were not being emitted. If life exists under such conditions it is conceivable that suitable conditions for the support of certain forms of life, animal as well as vegetable, may be found in low-lying valleys and crevices and upon the floors of craters, where certain gases essential to the support of life might be evolved from many small volcanic vents and fumaroles.
Many theories have been advanced to explain the origin of the lunar craters which have no counterpart on our own planet. They are saucer-like depressions in the surface of the moon, frequently of such great size that an observer standing in the center would not be able to see either side of the crater owing to the curvature of the moon's surface. Craters fifty, sixty or one hundred miles in diameter are by no means uncommon, while there are thousands between five and fifty miles in diameter. A characteristic feature of many craters is a central peak, and the surrounding walls are often a mile or more high and in some instances are symmetrically terraced. New craters have been formed on the sides or floors of old craters, and these are always more clear-cut and sharper in outlines than the old formations, and generally much smaller. A number of craters are surrounded by a system of light streaks or rays of unknown origin that extend in some instances to enormous distances on all sides of the crater. The most conspicuous system is the one surrounding the lunar crater Tycho near the south pole of the moon. The rays originating in this crater extend in all directions for hundreds of miles without turning aside for any obstructions, passing over mountains, craters and plains in their course in practically straight lines like spokes in a wheel. This ray system of Tycho is the most noticeable marking on the moon's surface at the time of full moon. As these streaks cast no shadow they are apparently cracks in the surface that have filled up with some light-colored material from below. Their origin has never been satisfactorily explained.
As to the origin of the lunar craters, some believe that they were produced in past ages by a bombardment of the lunar surface by huge meteoric masses; but there are many objections to this theory that we will not take up here. It is more generally believed that the lunar craters are a result of volcanic activity on an enormous scale which took place on the moon many ages ago and which has now practically ceased, its only manifestations now taking the form of a quiet emission of gases from small volcanic vents or fumaroles which exist all over the lunar surface but which are to be found in greatest numbers on the floors and sides of craters.