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I am equally unable to accept the theory that seeks to explain the incident by the impact of anti-matter. Even though I believe that there is anti-matter in the depths of the cosmos, there ca
There are shelves and shelves of literature about the Tunguska meteorite. There is one further fact I want to emphasise: radioactivity around the centre of the explosion in the Taiga is twice as high—even today—as elsewhere. Careful investigation of trees and their a
Until a single, exact, indubitable scientific proof of the phenomenon—and many others—is produced, no one has the right to discard an explanation within the bounds of credibility without giving his reasons.
Our knowledge of the planets in our solar system is pretty comprehensive; Mars is the only planet where 'life' in our sense of the word might exist and then only in limited quantities. Man has set the theoretical boundary to the possibility of life in his sense; this boundary is called the ecosphere. In our solar system only Venus, the Earth and Mars lie within the limits of the ecosphere. Nevertheless, we should remember that the determination of the ecosphere is based on our conception of life and that unknown life is by no means necessarily bound to our premises for life. Until 1962 Venus was considered as a possible home for life, that is until Mariner II got within about 21,000 miles of Venus. According to the information it transmitted, Venus can now be ruled out as a supporter of life.
It emerged from Mariner II's reports that the average surface temperature on both light and dark sides was 420 (deg) C. Such a temperature means that there could be no water, but only lakes of molten metal on the surface. The popular idea of Venus as the twin sister of the earth is over and done with, even though the carburetted hydrogen present could be a culture-medium for all kinds of bacteria.
It is not long since scientists claimed that life on Mars is inconceivable. For some time now that has become 'is scarcely conceivable'. For after the successful reco
Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos (in Greek, Fear and Terror). They were known long before the American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered them in 1877. As early as 1610 Joha
'(The Laputan astronomers) spend the greatest part of their lives in observing the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses far excelling ours in goodness. For although their largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they magnify much more than those of a hundred yards among us and at the same time show the stars with greater clearness. This advantage hath enabled them to extend their discoveries much further than our astronomers in Europe for they have made a catalogue of ten thousand fixed stars, whereas the largest of ours do not contain above one third part of that number. They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars, whereof the i
How could Swift describe the Martian satellites when they were not discovered until 150 years later? Undoubtedly the Martian satellites were suspected by some astronomers before Swift, but suspicions are not nearly enough for such precise data. We do not know where Swift got his knowledge from.
Actually these satellites are the smallest and strangest moons in our solar system. They rotate in almost circular orbits above the equator. If they reflect the same amount of light as our moon, then Phobos must have a diameter of 10 miles and Demos one of only 5 miles. But if they are artificial moons and so reflect still more light, they would actually be even smaller. They are the only known moons in our solar system drat move round their mother planet faster than she herself rotates. In relation to the rotation of Mars Phobos completes two orbits in one Martian day, whereas Deimos moves only a little faster round Mars than the planet itself rotates.
In 1862, when the earth was in a very favourable position in relation to Mars, people sought in vain for the Martian satellites—they were not discovered until fifteen years later I The theory of planetoids came up because several astronomers suspected that the Martian moons were fragments from space which Mars had attracted. But the theory of planetoids is untenable, for both the Martian moons revolve in almost the same planes above the equator. One fragment from space might do that by chance, but not two. Finally, measurable facts produced trie modern satellite theory.
The renowned American astronomer Carl Sagan and the Russian scientist Shlovsky in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, published in 1966, accept that the moon Phobos is an artificial satellite. As the result of a series of measurements Sagan came to the conclusion that Phobos must be hollow and a hollow moon ca
In fact, the peculiarities of Phobos's orbit bear no relation to its apparent mass, whereas such orbits are typical in the case of hollow bodies. The Russian Shlovsky, Director of the Department of Radio-Astronomy in the Moscow Sternberg Institute, made the same statement after he had observed that a peculiar u
Today people take these fantastic theories of Sagan and Shlovsky very seriously. The Americans plan further Martian probes, which are also intended to take the bearings of the Martian moons. In the years ahead, the Russians intend to observe the movements of the Martian moons from several observatories.
If the view supported by reputable scientists in east and west that Mars once had an advanced civilisation is correct, the question arises why does it no longer exist today? Did the intelligences on Mars have to seek a new environment? Did their home planet, which was losing more and more oxygen, force them to look for new territories to settle? Was a cosmic catastrophe responsible for the downfall of the civilisation? Lastly, were some of the inhabitants of Mars able to escape to a neighbouring planet?