How do we manage to get observation and interpretation mixed up?
The Rain Forests of Venus
Carl Sagan once told the story of early astronomers who looked up into the sky with their primitive telescopes and observed the planet Venus. It puzzled them greatly because Venus had no observable surface. Not at all like the Moon or Mars, it appeared just like a featureless, flat disc in the night sky.
"What on Earth could possibly explain that?" they asked. "Well, suppose it was covered in clouds." "Yes, that would explain it, since clouds obscure everything beneath them." So they continued, "What surface conditions are needed to make clouds?" "Well, heat, which we know Venus has because it's close to the sun, and water." That made sense, so they continued, "What kind of surface do you get when you have heat, light and water?" "Well, tropical rain forests, for one thing." That made perfect sense, so they concluded that the surface of Venus was covered with tropical rain forests
2007-11-15
21:54:42
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