Old Views
From an old encyclopedia c 1940. In just 25 years space missions made a mockery of such views. Beginning in 1965, a plethora of rocket ships reached Mars and many other places. Men landed on the moon.
There are lessons in this today. Some people dismiss predictions of voyages to the stars, or UFO reports, claiming that interstellar distances make them impossible. Numerous UFO cases make a mockery of that. Ample experience shows it is unwise to underestimate the possibilities spawned by technological advances.
The planetary data in the old work also requires comment (click for better view). The info on Mercury's density and gravity is erroneous. The innermost planet is not 17% denser than our world. Its density is slightly less, or 98% that of Earth. Likewise, Mercury's gravity is lower than 44% of ours; it's just under 38%.
In contrast to the Mercury data, that for Mars is fairly accurate. Mars has long been the best known planet in the solar system. It is easier to study than Mercury, which is smaller, never gets as close as Mars does occasionally and is too close to the sun for proper observation. The Red Planet also has satellites, enabling researchers to accurately calculate its mass and gravity. It's not surprising the astronomers of a century ago erred about the innermost planet.
posted by starman at 7:15 AM
6 Comments:
By the way, in its piece on Jamaica, that same old encyclopedia stated: "The negroes of Jamaica are excellent laborers and make honest, cheerful servants." Lol! The world has obviously advanced in a number of ways.
Reminds me of the correction the New York Times made when Apollo 11 was on its way to the Moon, thereby falsifying a claim made by them in 1920 that a rocket wouldn't work in deep space.
As far as interstellar travel goes, I think that while it's theoretically possible, any missions would have to be self-serving unless humans (or aliens sending out their own missions) want to wait around for years or decades for updates from said missions. Didn't you once say that any aliens visiting Earth would be androids? I wonder what aliens visiting Earth would tell us about how long they've been away from their home planet/moon. I would think that alien explorers would have to be space nomads.
Good to hear from you again JMD. We don't know what methods aliens might use or be using for travel or communication (wormholes? Gravitational Field Propulsion? Space time warp?). They might be very quick. I've always thought a vigorous space program would be the work of a government, given the enormous resources required.
Yes, I've said visiting aliens would probably be artificial (many reported UFO humanoid cases suggest that). Artificial creations wouldn't need such extensive life support. But again, we don't know what means might be available, longterm.
August 9, 2025
Right. All we can do for now is speculate.
Also, I'm curious, what sort of criteria do you use for determining whether you believe a UFO sighting is actually extraterrestrial? Is there one in particular you think is the strongest case for that? I personally think that while some sightings could be authentic, I can't name one I'm certain about.
I consider a UFO sighting ET if it behaves like something under intelligent control, and there's no prosaic explanation e.g. no known aircraft in the vicinity at the relevant time nor celestial objects, or if the behavior of the object appears to rule out either. Just moving around rules out a celestial object and extremely fast, noiseless motion argues against a manmade device. But UFOlogists have long been hampered by the Iron Law of Plausible Deniability. NO UFO case is convincing to everyone. Notwithstanding the quality of the McMinnville pics, for example, the position of the object below wires invites suspicion it's a fake, supported by string attached to the wires. Nobody has ever proven the existence of such string or cord, nor has any truck mirror matched the object's appearance. But there still appears to be some doubt, even in the best cases. I think that's deliberate; the phenomenon is slowly getting us used to the idea or reality of visitors but doesn't want us to be certain yet. At least not the public; the government was probably sure from the start in '47.
August 10, 2025
CORRECTION: My two comments above should be dated OCTOBER 9 AND 10 respectively....
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