Supplement by Immanuel Velikovsky

Author:Immanuel Velikovsky [Velikovsky, Immanuel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Worlds in Collision and

Recent Finds in Astronomy

In the years when the manuscript of Worlds in Collision was in the hands of the Macmillan Company, accepted for publication though not yet published (194649), and in the years following its publication in 1950 several fundamental observations were made and explanations offered that have a clear bearing on the theory of that book.

The zodiacal light, or the glow seen in the evening sky after sunset, stretching in the path of the sun and other planets (ecliptic), the mysterious origin of which has for a long time occupied the minds of astronomers, has been explained in recent years as the reflection of the solar light from two rings of dust particles, one following the orbit of Venus, the other an orbit between Mars and Jupiter, places where, according to Worlds in Collision, collisions of planets and a comet took place.

The origin of asteroids, or small planets, that circle between Jupiter and Mars, some of which cross the orbit of Mars and even that of the earth, has lately been explained as the result of the explosion of a planet and more recently (1950) as the result of a collision between two planets in an early age (Kuiper). N. T. Bobrovnikoff of the Perkins Observatory offered anew his own explanation of the origin of the asteroids: they are “remnants of a gigantic prehistoric comet.” F. Whipple, upon calculating the orbits of the asteroids, came to the conclusion (1950) that two collisions occurred between these bodies and a comet, once 4700 years ago and the second time 1500 years ago, or within historical times. These dates of collision in the solar system are of the same order as those offered in Worlds in Collision, deduced there from historical evidence and testimony. C. Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto, explained (1950) the dark areas and the canals of Mars as resulting, from collisions of Mars with asteroids. According to Worlds in Collision, Mars was involved in repeated collisions with large cometary masses.

Actually, in January 1950, an explosion observed on Mars was interpreted (by Opik) as a collision with an asteroid; clouds of dust of continental dimensions rose and screened surface features of the planet.

0. Struve of Yerkes Observatory, reviewing the achievements of astronomy during 1950, wrote that “by a bizarre coincidence” in that year “a deluge of sound papers” on “collisions within the solar system” followed on the heels of Worlds in Collision.

There are two theories concerning the origin of lunar craters. Their size is enormous nothing comparable is known on earth. According to one theory, these craters are the result of a collision of the moon with very large meteorites, of the size of asteroids; according to the other theory, they are volcanic formations. Both theories assume very violent events in which the celestial body closest to the earth was involved. In Worlds in Collision I offered the following explanation of the lunar craters, as well as of the seas of lava and the rifts on the

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