Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 48 — page 134: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

; > “i a7 } o t4 wh s ‘ AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION plants. Spectroscopic evid- ence has always been con- sidered to be against this view, since the spectra of the Martian greenery is very different from that of ordin- ary terrestrial plants. Not too long ago, Kuiper, the Ameri- can astronomer, pointed out that the Martian spectra were quite similar to those of terrestrial lichens, so opening up once more the possibility that Mars possessed plants that had equivalents on Earth. More recently, G. A. Tik- hov, of the Astrobotany Laboratory at Alma Ata in Russia, has provided addi- tional indications that this may be so. Tikhov reasoned that since Mars is a cold place, if it had any plants at all they might resemble those in cold regions on Earth. So he carefully measured the spectra of plants growing in sub-arctic and high alpine 133 conditions—and found that in all essential points there was agreement with the Mar- tian spectra. Though this does not prove that Mars possesses higher green plants, it does show that this is not impossible. Tikhov puts forward a rationale on the grounds that Martian plants would have adapted themselves to the cold just as terrestrial plants have done. In that case it is quite likely that the chloro- phyll pigmentation would be modified in some way to increase the absorption of red and infra-red rays, which are the wavelengths that carry most energy (i.e., warmth). It is certainly an attractive theory, and goes a long way towards making everyone happy about those green areas. But it still is not proof. Still the only way of finding out for sure is to go there and see! comiclooks.corn