Water on Mars

There is evidence that, in the last few years, water flowed on the planet Mars.  See the podcast from NASA.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. It is interesting to see this. Of course, I always feel that logical steps are made (at least by the media or public) that sometimes overstep the evidence. I would almost guarantee that IF they do find direct evidence of water on Mars the public opinion will immediately think that there is intelligent life on Mars (even before actual life, even microbial) was discovered since it has been pounded into our head: water = possible life (and many people fail to see the word “possible” in that statement.
    I don’t know if there would be many theological implications regarding just finding microbial life. The bigger question would be if there is intelligent life. Talk about interesting evangelization. :)

  2. I think those microbes might need some bishops and priests to them them during their short lives….

  3. Jon says:

    Father,

    Being an amateur astronomer, I thought you might be interested by this anecdote from my college days, some twenty-fi, er, so years ago.

    Like all humanties students, I had to take a few science pre-requisites to satisfy the requirements. Myself, who disdained anything having to do with laboratories and smelly chemicals that might explode in my face, chose field ornithology and astronomy.

    As I’ve always been fascinated by birds, I didn’t mind getting up at 4am in February to catch a glimpse of some frozen fowl on the equally frozen shores of Lake Champlain…especially if some cute girls came along who needed to share some hot morning coffee.

    Astronomy was another matter. I knew the moon shines at night, and we sent people there to wave back, but I also knew that most public astronomers, exemplified at the time by Carl Sagan, spent quite a bit of television time trying to convince us that the Divine Hand played no role in decorating the heavens.

    I was quite surprised then, when in my astronomy class, which was one of those survey affairs peopled by three-hundred or so freshman, turned out to be otherwise. I remember the professor was dynamic; a wonderful, entertaining speaker, who made eye-glazing things like nutrinos seem compelling. He had the gift of making the most complex thing comprehensible.

    Although today I’ve forgotten his name, I can distinctly recall every word he said the day he ended the semester. Standing at the bottom of his bowl auditorium, his arms spread wide, he announced to his young crowd of state university hedonists and agnostics “…And finally, it’s this I want to put before you for your consideration. That all of this you’ve heard me talk about, all of this magnificence and stupefying splendor, all of this exquisite beauty and infinite complexity you behold when at night you look up into the vastness of the sky, that all of this was PUT here, is here, as a gift, simply for you, and simply for you alone.”

    At this usually unmentionable inference to the existence of a Creator, let alone the despised implication that man might be – horrors – unique, there were a few gasps, but there was no chance for rebuttal or challenge. The class was dismissed, to return only for the final a few days later.

    That wasn’t the last I saw of the professor, however. It was my habit to attend several different churches for Mass that were near my campus. Well, one Sunday not long after the good doctor’s oration, I spotted him there at one of those churches, hands folded in front of him, approaching the priest to receive the King of the Universe.

    A trickle of water means life on Mars? Pshaw!

  4. Rob says:

    All we need is for some mission to Mars where to dig up some frozen virus
    while looking for life.

  5. Andrew says:

    Here is a thought:

    Whatever there is, wherever it is, its what the Creator foresaw. Here is an interesting idea:

    Quoniam Deus non aliquid nesciens fecit, quod nec de quolibet homine artifice recte dici potest; porro si sciens fecit omnia, ea utique fecit quae noverat. Ex quo occurrit animo quiddam mirum, sed tamen verum, quod iste mundus nobis notus esse non posset, nisi esset; Deo autem nisi notus esset, esse non posset. (St. Augustine: Book 11, Chpt. 10., 3 – De Civitate Dei).

    Since God did not make something not knowing what (which can’t be said even of some human artist); further, if he made all things knowing, he surely made things that he knew. From which a wonderful thought occurs to one’s mind, and true, namely that this world could not be known (perceived) unless it existed; it could however not exist, unless it was perceived by God.

    Kind of like saying: Cogito, ergo Deus creavit mundum.

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