“Those who deserve monuments do not need them.”

WE apply ourselves to scrapping into astronomy, astrophysics and related sciences in a way that will make us understand them in detail as never before. In my previous piece we discussed some eminent scientists. The world will keep benefitting from their work for centuries to come and use them as a shoulder to see farther yet.

Saturn’s rings are actually a series of rings located parallel and some distant apart from one another, rarely crossing or overlapping each other. These revolve around the master planet just like the Earth does obligingly and dutifully around the Sun. They are thought to be there after being broken up into pieces; some little rocks, some boulders as big as a small city, and some dust particles due to the looming planet’s massive gravitational pull. It is possible that a small portion comprises gas.

It was our friend Cassini who discovered the rings, and the later-day scientists named them in his honour: Cassini’s Rings or Cassini’s Divisions. It is because there are many of them, set some distance apart from one another, not overlapping one another. Disciplined, and in order. From the Earth they appear as a single ring. In the course of our journey across the astronomical parlance we shall discover many such scientists and relate to their work elaborately.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

A MINISCULE but essential part of the Mother Nature; it is a colourless, odourless gas produced when we breathe, or when organic material decomposes or is burned. Animals take in oxygen and exhale a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The floral (plant) life breath in carbon dioxide and release oxygen hence the presence of oxygen by about 21 per cent in the atmosphere. The more there are trees the more oxygen there will be.

But since the year 1900, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased by half. Due mainly to the unchecked use of fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas). A build-up of CO2 can trap heat and raise the planet’s average temperature leading to greenhouse effect which may lead to melting of the great glaciers and snow at the Poles. The result will be catastrophic. Besides, the resultant climatic changes will be devastating and too much for humanity’s liking or ability to cope with. A large number of scientists are crying hoarse over the ominous outcome but the amount of CO2 keeps rising, slowly but surely.

Carbon monoxide

THIS is another colourless, odourless gas produced when carbon burns with insufficient air around. Most of it comes from automobiles of all kinds. It can be lethal in the event of car air conditioners kept on while people sleep in their cars. Some years back it happened in Karachi when an entire family died as they slept in their car, with the a/c left on due to a night-long power failure. Be very mindful of that. Carbon monoxide is not to be taken lightly. Smoke-filled cabins are equally dangerous.

Carcinogen

ALTHOUGH it is any substance that causes cancer, and cannot be said to be related to astronomy, I will tell you how they are profoundly related to it.

Many carcinogen substances have been introduced, irretrievably too, in the last three centuries to take serious note of the element. The increasing use of coal and oil are two examples of the increase of carcinogens into the atmosphere. Cigarette smoking is the most obvious cancer-causing activity. The increasing use of synthetic chemicals in food, cosmetics and clothing are the last century’s gift to humanity.

But worse has still to emerge on a large-scale, since there are countless factors that contribute to this. Already, humans die at the rate of about one in four due to cancer. Animals do too, but less than that.

Mercifully, the Ozone layer in the upper atmosphere shields the surface of Earth from carcinogenic U/V radiation. Decrease in the amount of ozone in the shield can lead to increased U/V radiation and increase in skin cancers. Besides it is lethal for animals too who are forever exposed to sunlight. A direct relationship has been established between ozone reduction and increased cases of skin cancer of various kinds.

It is vital for us to preserve one of nature’s great gifts, the Ozone layer, to save our children and their children, from the hazards its depletion will inevitably follow. Already the issue has become alarming. Many scientists are citing the case of a big hole in the ozone layer over Antarctic. But gas being dynamic (not confined to one place) it is likely to spread to other areas sooner than you can imagine.

Remember that every time we use a spray, automobile, refrigerants or things cited above, we are contributing toward carcinogens of some sort, in a small way. This doesn’t mean that you are being asked to stop their use all together, but to restrain its use. And choose the best and most technically qualified ones to keep pollution in check.

So, you see that a heavily polluted Earth can mean a dry planet not fit enough to provide for us a healthy, or a suitable lifestyle and to check yourself for the future generations. After all, you will grow up to love them. I am sure. Think about it.

astronomerpreone@hotmail.com