Also, its supposed thinness is in contradiction to findings obtained by photographs made in violet and in red fight. One series of clouds is seen in the photographs taken in violet light, but not in those taken in red light; a second series of clouds is seen in the red, but not in the violet, light.
In the present study of cosmic catastrophes the endeavor has been to establish the fact that in the eighth and seventh centuries before this era the earth was repeatedly approached by a celestial body; that this body was the planet Mars; that previously Mars had been displaced from its path by contact with Venus, which up to that time had crossed the orbit of the earth, and that Venus, the earth, and Mars, as a consequence, assumed new positions in the solar system. In all these contacts between Venus, the earth, and Mars there was an exchange of atmospheres, the earth acquiring the carbon clouds of Venus and also some of the atmosphere of Mars. The white precipitated masses on Mars, which form the polar caps, are probably of the nature of carbon, having been acquired from the trailing part of Venus, and only the difference in atmospheric conditions on Mars as compared with the earth, together with a difference in temperature, keeps this "manna" from being permanently dissolved under the rays of the sun.
The main ingredients of the atmosphere of Mars must be present in the atmosphere of the earth.
Mars, "the god of war," must have left part of his property on his visits. As oxygen and water vapor are not the main ingredients of the atmosphere of Mars, some other elements of the terrestrial atmosphere must be the main components of its atmosphere. It could be nitrogen, but the presence of nitrogen on Mars—or its absence—has not yet been established.
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Besides oxygen and nitrogen, the main components of the terrestrial atmosphere, argon and neon are present in detectable quantities in the air. These rare gases excite spectral lines only when in a hot state; consequently, they cannot be detected through lines of emission from a comparatively cool body such as Mars. The absorption lines of argon and neon have not yet been investigated. When a study of these lines will make possible a spectral search for these rare gases on planets, Mars should be submitted to the test. If analysis should reveal them in rich amounts, this would also answer the question: What contribution did Mars make to the earth when the two planets came into contact?
The Thermal Balance of Mars
The equatorial diameter of Mars is about 4,200 miles; when compared with that of the earth, the ratio in volume is 15 to 100; the ratio in mass is supposed to be 10.8 to 100. Mars is one-sixth the volume of Venus, and Venus is considered to be seven and a half times heavier than Mars.
Due to the eccentricity of Mars' orbit, the insolation at aphelion is much smaller than at perihelion (the ratio being about 5:6), and in the southern hemisphere the summer is much hotter but much shorter than in the northern hemisphere. Because of the greater mean distance of Mars from the sun, it is supposed to receive less than half the light and warmth per unit of area that the earth receives; and for this reason its temperature must be some 65° C. below that of the earth, and never above freezing. The mean temperature of a year on the equatorial latitudes of Mars must be similar to that of the polar regions of the earth.
The radiometric measurement of the temperature of Mars actually
shows an excess of heat.1 Mars emits more heat than it receives from
the sun. Does this excess of heat come from the interior of the planet?
Mars is a smaller body than the earth; it has more surface per unit
of volume, and it must have cooled down quicker than the earth,
especially if it was released from the nebulous sun by a centrifugal
1 W. W. Coblentz and C. O. Lampland at the Lowell Observatory, and E. Pettit and S. B.
Nicholson at the Mount Wilson Observatory.
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force before the earth was (Kant-Laplace), but also if they both originated as planets simultaneously millions of years ago (tidal theory). What, then, is the cause of the excess of heat in Mars?
robin-bobin
The assumed contacts with the earth would have caused much greater changes in and on Mars than in and on the earth, because of the difference in mass. An interplanetary contact must have caused a conversion of motion into heat, and consequently resulted in an excess of thermal radiation over the quantity of heat brought to the planet by insolation.
The contacts of Mars with Venus, and in a lesser degree with the earth, less than three thousand years ago probably are responsible for the present temperature of Mars; interplanetary electric discharges could also initiate atomic fissions with ensuing radioactivity and emission of heat.
The Gases of Venus
A part of the gaseous trail of Venus remained attached to the earth, another part was torn away by Mars, but the main mass of gases followed the head of the comet. Of the part which remained with the earth, some became a deposit of petroleum; some, in the form of clouds, enveloped the earth for many years, slowly precipitating. The part retained by Venus burned or smoked for a long time, as long as the oxygen carried from the earth lasted; what remained forms today the envelope of carbon clouds of the Morning Star. To the depth penetrated by spectroscopic analysis, oxygen and water vapor are absent. The planet is covered with clouds of dust. Carbon dioxide is an ingredient of Venus' atmosphere.1
The brilliant envelope of Venus is the remnant of its tail of the days when, three thousand years ago, it was a comet. The reflecting power (albedo) of Venus is greater than that of any other planet.
1 C. E. St. John and J. B. Nicholson, "The Spectrum of Venus," Contributions from the Mount Wilson Observatory, No. 249 (1922).
The supposition has been advanced that Venus is covered with formaldehyde (R. Wildt) although no spectral lines of this compound have been identified in the atmosphere of Venus.
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It is 0.75 as compared with 0.22 for Mars, and 0.13 for the moon.2 The reflecting capacity of Venus is not only much greater than that of desert sand, but is almost equal to that of newly fallen snow.
On the basis of this research, I assume that Venus must be rich in petroleum gases. If and as long as Venus is too hot for the liquefaction of petroleum, the hydrocarbons will circulate in gaseous form. The absorption lines of the hydrocarbon spectrum lie far in the infrared where usual photographs do not reach. When the technique of photography in the infrared is perfected so that hydrocarbon bands can be differentiated, the spectrogram of Venus may disclose the presence of hydrocarbon gases in its atmosphere, if these gases lie in the upper part of the atmosphere where the rays of the sun penetrate.
If the petroleum that poured down on the earth on its contact with the comet Venus was formed by means of electrical discharges from hydrogen and gaseous carbon, Venus must still have petroleum because of the discharges that passed, as we assume, between the head and tail of the comet when it was intercepted by the earth and in other celestial contacts.
Some indirect conclusion can also be drawn concerning the presence of liquid petroleum on Jupiter. If, as is assumed here, Venus was thrown off from Jupiter in a violent expulsion, and if Venus has petroleum gases, then Jupiter must have petroleum. The fact that methane has been discovered in the atmosphere of Jupiter—the only known constituents of its atmosphere are the poisonous gases methane and ammonia—makes it rather probable that it has petroleum; the so-called "natural gas" found in and near oil fields consists largely of methane.
The modern theory of the origin of petroleum, based upon its polarizing quality, regards petroleum as originating from organic, not inorganic, matter. Consequently, if I am not mistaken, Venus and Jupiter must possess an organic source of petroleum. On preceding pages it was shown that there are some historical indications that Venus—and therefore also Jupiter—is populated by vermin; this organic life can be the source of petroleum.