The planet should also have a mean density greater than that of water, otherwise the seas would possess no stability, and destructive waves would quickly destroy all life on its surface. All these conditions are fulfilled in the case of Mars as well as on the earth. In the planet Saturn, however, the density is less than that of water, and in Uranus and Neptune only slightly greater.
The planet must also possess a suitable atmosphere. This is an all-important condition for the support of animal life—at least for the existence of man and the higher orders of animals. This atmosphere must consist—so far as we know—of oxygen and nitrogen gases mechanically mixed in proper proportions, and with a small quantity of carbonic acid gas. Were the oxygen in smaller quantity than it exists in the earth’s atmosphere, life could not be supported. On the other hand, were it much in excess of its present amount, a fever would be produced in the blood which would very soon put an end to animal life. The presence of other gases in excessive quantities would also render the air unfit for breathing. We see, therefore, that a comparatively slight change in the composition of a planet’s atmosphere would—so far as our experience goes—render the planet uninhabitable by any of the higher forms of life with which we are familiar.
For the support of life on a planet, water is also absolutely necessary. Without this useful fluid the world would soon become a desert, and life and vegetation would speedily vanish from its surface.
Geological conditions must also be considered. It is clearly necessary for the welfare of human beings at least that the surface soil and rocks should contain coal, iron, lime, and other minerals, substances almost indispensable for the ordinary wants of civilized existence.
Nine Views of the Hour-Glass Sea on Mars
1, Nov. 26, 1864; 2, June 29, 1873; 3, Oct. 28, 1879; 4, June 2, 1888; 5, June 20, 1890; 6, Aug. 6, 1892; 7, Oct., 1894; 8, Dec. 3, 1896; 9, Dec. 7, 1896
That all or any of the conditions considered would be complied with in the case of a planet revolving round a star it is, of course, impossible to say. But when we find stars showing by their spectra that they contain chemical elements identical with those which exist in the sun and the earth, analogy would lead us to suppose that very possibly a planet resembling our earth may revolve round each of these distant suns. I say a planet, for evidently there would be only one distance from the central luminary—a distance depending on its size—at which the temperature necessary for the support of life would exist, as in the case of the earth, over the whole of the planet’s surface. For other planets of the stellar system, life would be, if it existed at all, most probably confined to restricted regions of the planet’s surface. There would, therefore, be in each system one planet, and only one, especially suitable for the support of animal life as we know it. This is with reference to light and heat. If the other conditions were not complied with, then life would probably not exist even on this one planet. In the case of a star larger than the sun, the planet should be placed at a greater distance than the earth is from the sun, but in this case the length of the year and the seasons would be longer than ours.
The star which more nearly resembles the sun in the character of the light which it emits is the bright star Capella. Arcturus has a somewhat similar spectrum. But these are probably suns of enormous size, if any reliance can be placed on the measures of their distance from the earth. Other bright stars with spectra of the solar type are Pollux, Aldebaran, Beta Andromedæ, Alpha Arietis, Alpha Cassiopeiæ, Alpha Cygni, and Alpha Ursæ Majoris. Another star is Eta Herculis. The magnitude of this star as measured with the photometer is about 3½. A parallax found by Bélopolsky and Wagner places it at a distance of 515,660 times the sun’s distance from the earth. If the sun were placed at this distance, I find that it would be reduced to a star of the third magnitude. This result would imply that Eta Herculis is a slightly smaller sun than ours; and a planet placed a little nearer to the star than the earth is to the sun might, perhaps, fulfil the conditions of a life-bearing world.
The number of stars visible in our largest telescopes is usually estimated at 100,000,000. Of these we may perhaps assume that 10,000,000 have a spectrum of the solar type, and therefore closely resemble our sun in their chemical constitution. If we suppose that only one in ten of these is similar in size to the sun, and has a habitable planet revolving round it, we have a total of 1,000,000 worlds in the visible universe fitted for the support of animal life.
We may therefore conclude, with a high degree of probability, that among the “multitudinous” stellar hosts there are probably many stars having life-bearing planets revolving round them.