2010 3

Y ou might be
wondering why this
frivolous question is
raised. Of course, we can perceive the
Isn't it strange that the sky is dark at night?
the brightness is proportional to 1/R2; but
species. According to them,
the light of an individual star
will be diminished to such an
extent that beyond a certain distance the
eye cannot receive an individual optical
light of stars, planets, the moon, and often
since the number of stars is proportional to
the glow of city lights reflected from impression, which is true. Hence, they
R2, the total amount of light reaching us from
particulate matter in our atmosphere, but came to conclusion that any star that
all the stars in any shell is independent of
one cannot deny that night is darker than might exist, beyond the few thousands
the distance of that shell i.e. each shell
day. If asked why this is so, all of us would that can be seen with the bare eye, could
contributes an equal amount to the
reply; the Sun illuminates the Earth have no effect on the light received on the
luminosity of the sky! The fact that the stars
during day as it is near whereas the stars Earth, which was false. Since any
are not perfectly uniform in their
are so distant that their light is negligible. contribution that by itself was zero, the
distribution in space does not alter the
As a matter of fact, you would always sum of many undetectable rays of light
argument significantly; the fluctuations
accede that the difference between night was still equal to zero. From such a view,
average out if we consider many shells.
and day is not strange at all and hardly the paradox could not have been
The paradoxical consequence of these
worth serious discussion. conceived by the early scholars.
arguments comes when the light from
In spite of this general consensus, the It was the Galileo's telescope which
various shells are added together. As R
darkness of the night sky and similar opened the door to this paradox where
increases, incorporating more and more
queries have perplexed philosophers for the mistake was realised.
shells, the light received should increase
centuries. You may contemplate it Nevertheless, Galileo could not free
infinitely until the entire sky should be
startling but if you observe at the himself from the previous philosophical
ablaze, as is the surface of the Sun,
geometric aspect of the problem, then you background in detection of light. Beyond
irrespective of the time of the day. Reality
will definitely start excogitating. If we the certain distance, stars had no effect
does not exhibit this but the arguments are
divide the whole universe into concentric upon man's vision, was his perception. He
very logical. Even the fact that the stars seen
shells like the layers of an onion, each expressed the notion that stars are not
are restricted to the finite volume of one
having a thickness ‘t’, the volume of each present beyond a certain distance. Hence,
galaxy does not resolve the dilemma; the
shell will be approximately the surface no paradox existed in his cosmology. But,
same arguments can be applied to the
area of one of the boundary concentric the paradox got recognition again later by
galaxies as well as to the stars. The darkness
sphere times ‘t’. Surface area of a sphere different scientists who attempted to
of the night sky is definitely a significant,
increases in proportion to the square of resolve it in versatile manner. The
and perplexing, cosmological problem.
its radius. Consequently, the volume of solution that came ultimately would be
The conundrum couldn't be realised
each shell, and hence the number of stars revealed in the next issue. So, have
before 17th century due to lack of concept of
in each shell, is proportional to the square patience and just wait!
the manner in which light affects the human
of the radius. For each star in a given shell,

What if Earth have been the Lord of the

Ring rather than Saturn?
Wouldn't it be amazing if we (the Earth) were the sole proprietor of the rings in the whole universe?
It would have added another feather to our green planet's aura, making it the king of the whole universe. The reason of formation
of Saturn's rings is not clear but scientists suggest different mechanisms for the creation. An asteroid or comet hitting of the planet
could form the rings in a similar manner as the moon. The next question arises as what would it be made up of? Saturn's rings are
made up of ice, but the Earth's ring cannot be made up of ice as the distance between the Sun and the Earth is very less in
comparison to the distance between the Sun and Saturn which is around 1.4 billion kms, leading to the melting of ice. So, the
probable material for ring could be small rocks and pebbles, making it long living.
Changes in the sky
Whether it is day or night, there would always be a ring visible in the sky. It would be much alike the rainbow patterns without the
seven colours with permanent existence. The night wouldn't only be lit by the moon but also by the
ring as they would reflect the Sun's light. The rings, aligned to the equator, would appear across the
sky from east to west. Depending upon the place from where you are looking at the sky, the thickness
of the ring would vary. To a person standing in the equatorial position, it would appear as a very thin
straight line; but to a person far away from equator, a broad band just near the horizon would be
visible.
Affects on the life
The ring would cast shadows changing the amount of light reaching the earth surface making the
winters in both the hemispheres colder than it is now. Plants would have to be adapted to the low
temperature and less amount light. There would have been changes in the types of flora and fauna
found in different regions. Life requiring high temperature for growth and propagation would have become extinct. Moreover, the
ground based astronomy would have messed up too. It would be very difficult to observe the outer space. Stars might not be visible
at all from few places. The knowledge gained and the theories proposed for their existence would not have existed. They would
have served as a major obstacle in the spaceflight as well. Satellites could not be put up so easily in the orbit. The Geo-synchronous
satellites, used for weather and communications, would never have worked. Astronomical satellites in the polar orbit wouldn't be
of much help. The small pieces of rocks would add to the space debris amount and will prove fatal.

In a nut shell, we wouldn't have been what we are today. The various missions like sending rovers to mars, landing on the moon would
have still been a fantasy. But, whatever be the reason, our Earth does not have a ring and let's like it the way it is.

5th Edition|The MoonWalk