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roved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81 R00560R000100010002-9 ANDROMEDA GALAXY In an early, real-life version of the TV series “Startrek,” the National Academy of Sciences founded the Order of the Dolphin in 1961 “to seek out and contact extraterres- trial life forms.” The Order regards its formula as the equa- tion of existence. “N” stands for the number of civilizations in our galaxy now capable of communicating with other solar systems. The expressions to the right of N are exotic modifying influences such as the rate at which new stars were being formed when the solar system was born . . . the number of stars with a retinue of planets . . . the number of plan- ets in the galaxy capable of supporting Life . . . the num- ber of planets on which Life actually appears... . the number of Life-bearing planets on which intelligent Life has evolved, and finally, the most critical factor, “L—the number of intelligent worlds that develop the ability and desire to communicate with other civilizations.” Most of the great minds of human history believed that the greater part of the universe is inhabited by intelligent Life. Greek scientists and scholars as well as Egyptian priests recognized the Earth and other planets of the solar system as spheres moving in an eastward direction. Some- where along the line man fell into the ignorance and super- stition of the Dark Ages and forgot this knowledge. Appar- ently there was more than one Dark Age. When India reigned as one of the mightiest nations on the planet, Hindus took it for granted that the billions of Life forms (species, genera and phyla) on Earth were but a tiny fraction of that which existed on far flung worlds orbit- ing distant stars. Ancient China saw much the same sort of universal picture. Between them, these two pristine cultures have preserved the oldest records of man in existence. It seems amazing that man was so philosophically ad- vanced in such ancient times. The mere fact that any cul- ture in those days could deduce the correct explanation for the whiteness of the Milky Way is astonishing! There seems to be more mystery about early man than any anthropologist has guessed. . Thousands of years later, as we embark on tentative voy- ages into space, we have some idea of the size, but very little is known about the formation or function of the uni- verse. Consider the Sun’s retinue of planets stretching out to Pluto Cas far as we know). Light from the Sun, traveling at 186,000 miles a second, takes about eight minutes to reach the Earth. Pluto, the outermost known planet, receives the Sun’s light in about eight hours from the time photons are radiated from its corona. The next nearest celestial ob- ject is a star known as Alpha Centauri; it takes light from the Sun 4.3 years to reach this star. It is 26 trillion miles away, 272,000 times as far as Earth is from the Sun (93 million miles)! Next, light traveling from one end of this vast aggregate of stars, star clouds, interstellar dust, planets, comets and ‘possibly, quasars, to the other, takes 100,000 years. From here we can move out across intergalactic space to Andromeda, the nearest of billions of galaxies like our own Milky Way. If you visualize the nearest galaxy reduced to a tiny whirling disc of brilliance about the size of a dime, then picture another dime-disc three feet from that, and an entire series of dime-sized galaxies equidistantly spaced, stretching for three miles in all directions, you'll have an idea of the size of the (known) universe. It is probably only a tiny fraction of the larger universe we are unable to see. Oddly enough, all these galaxies are flying away from each other at a steady rate. Viewed from inside any galaxy, all.other galaxies seem to be moving away, those on the perimeter moving much faster than those nearest to you. Some of these galaxies are flashing away at the speed of light, some slower, some faster (relatively). Those moving continued on next page Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010002-9