Everyone in touch with Greek Mythology knows of the appalling torment that the Gods put Prometheus through. The Gods were angry with him for stealing the fire from them. But here’s an ironic truth about Greek mythology: The planets named after the Greek gods, including Apollo, don’t hold any fire.
Although the world knows the sun as a source of fire, the reasoning behind it is the fusion process, which is entirely different. The existence of the fiery sun became a reality only after spending billions of years of life on Earth.
Fire is one of life’s necessities, and if any planet or star around us supports fire, it will imply that there is existence on them too. Fire proves the existence of life on a planet, as it requires oxygen to function.
While oxygen is the third most easily available chemical element in the universe, it can bond readily with other elements. Hence, oxygen is often found in a molecular form, resulting in the existence of fire.
There are some other elements capable of burning particular materials as well. However, these gaseous elements are rare, and finding them outside a chemistry lab is difficult compared to oxygen.
The existence of fire is not possible in the entire universe except Earth. Fire cannot exist elsewhere because neither oxygen nor any alternative exists in the Solar System. Oxygen or gases are necessary for combustion and for the fire to light up.
You won’t also find evidence of fire in the fossil record before the Ordovician period, either! Earth’s atmosphere has had oxygen in the atmosphere since the Great oxidation event that occurred two billion years before. However, the oxygen concentration was too low, making the fire unable to sustain itself.
However, if all life on Earth suddenly ceased, so will the oxygen. Granted that there is no living being left on the planet, the Oxygen contents of Earth with react with a rock until all of it gets used up.
Similarly, oxygen availability at high altitudes is scarce, so people living at higher altitudes have limited fuel to burn fire. And if you keep going high enough, you will officially reach a point where you can’t burn fire since there is no trace of oxygen.
Apart from fuel, fire needs heat to burn. We follow a pattern when choosing things to which we set the flame. For example, coal from ancient forests, oil, once a simple organism, and wood from trees.
All of these materials can go through the quick process of oxidation, a process responsible for producing flames. Oxidation is proof that fire is also a product of life.
Methane and hydrogen are flaming elements that can exist without any sign of life. You will find the lakes on Titan and Jupiter full of these two flammable gases. However, if you combine any of the elements of oxygen, you would get a much better indication of life forms changing the atmosphere than oxygen on its own.
Fire can cause illusion in our eyes, and due to a phenomenon, it will appear just like a fusion of stars.
Furthermore, The Erupting volcanoes produce “fire fountains” which you can see Jupiter’s moon lo, as told by Astronomy.com.
The pressure of tidal forces by the outer moon and Jupiter have turned Lo’s interior molten—the molten interior results in constant eruptions nearby the low. Nevertheless, the fire fountains showing do not erupt actual fire; instead, magma shoots up through a vent.
There are many ways to examine if a lie exists on the other planets. Some of them may feel much easier, but fire can give you your answer. Provided that you can tell the fire apart from similar-looking elements, you can quickly determine the existence of life on any planet.
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