The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-09-06
The Planet Mars.

shining 50 brilliantly III the eastern Sky
of late, is the planet Mars. It's com
paritively close proximity to the earth
is at present attracting the attention of
astronomers all over the world. The
Oreyonion of recent date has an in
teresting article on the subject. The
subioined selections therefrQm will
doubtless be of interest to the average
reader
During the nights of many weeks past the
planet Mars has been the most conspicuous
object III the sky, of course excepting our
moon Those who have watched its appear
ance must have noted that it shines week by
week with increasing brilliancy. The earth,
moving on an inner line and with greater We
locity, has been rapidly nearing it. On the
9TH of September the two planets will be
nearer each other than since 1893. The dis
tance will then be about thirty-five millions
of miles. Excepting our moon, Mars is now
our nearest neighbor. But after the date
above given, the earth, having passed Mars,
VIII move rapidly away, and within year
the distance between the two bodies VIII be
increased to two hundred and fifty millions
of miles.
The plane of Mars orbit is slightly in
clined to that of the orbit of the earth, fact
which accounts for some of the apparent pc
culiarities of tbs movements of the former
planet Best calculations make the greatest
md least distances of the earth from the sun,
| respectively %, $50, coo and 50, 10 coo mites,
a distance something less than that OF the cs-
| Inmates accepted prior to recent observations
| upon the transit of enus. The greatest
| and least distances of Mars from the sun are
l52, go, 900 and l26 G20, coo miles, which
shows that the orbit of this planet is eonsid-
| erably more eiliptcal than that of our earth.
| The Martial year is 6S7 of our days. The
planets diameter was formerly estimated at
| 800 miles; but the reduced estimates OF the
sun $ distance will bring 1t within probably
| 1000 miles, or just about Aalt that of the
earth The rotation period of Mars Is -
| hours and 81 minutes. Ills surface Is ono
! fourth OF his volume about one-cight THAI OF
our globe. With good telescope the SHOWS
about his poles are plainly seen, and even
| the periodic changes IN the dimensions Of
| these two white caps can bc traced. \ large
part of the surface OF tlie planet appears to
be covered with water, and 1t is absolutely =
certain that the vapor OF water eXls.s III
large quantities in the atmosphere. Obser-
vations with the spectroScope seem 20 prove
that the ruddy color in Mars is not due to
the effects of the planets atmosphere. Proc
| tor is decidedly of opinion that 1t is due at
least in part, t. the nature OF the planet :
soil The seas and lands of Mars appear to
be well distributed over his surface. so that
there is great deal of coast line. Some OF
the seas seem to he narrow and flask shaped,
and perhaps the nations have their Bosporus
and Gibraltar to contend about. The planet
i. <-l, |,
pearances corresponding to changes well
lnown to be taxing place, regularly upon our
earth
Mars has always been supposed a moon
less planet. but the discovery of moon is
lust announced by Prof. Hall, at the naval
observatory at Washington, and the fact Is
exciting no little interest among astronomers.
On the night of the 10th of August he noticed
very small star following Mars a few sec
onds and made an estimate OF its distance
from the planet Two hours later he was
surprised to find that the distance had not
increased, though the planet was moving
away at the rate of fifteen seconds an hour.
Estimating the distance OF the satellite from
the planet, a rough calculation WAS made of
the time it should reappear. 1t was invisi
Bile when the great instrument was again dl-
rected that way; but true to prediction, 1t
again appeared near the time calculated, at
tended, as some of the observers asserted, by
a still smaller companion satellite. This last
is, however, yet considered uncertain.
But scientific authorities say there is no
doubt of the discovery of one moon, the pc
riod of whose revolution about the planet is
estimated at thirty hours. 1t can be seen
only by putting Mars, which is very bright,
out of the field of the telescope. The dis
tance of this satellite from the planet is only
IA, 900 or $1,000 miles, which is much less
than that in any other instance known The
diameter is very small and can scarcely ex-
ceed 500 miles No full account of the OBJ
servations has yet been Published, but the
event is ranked as among the greatest telc-
scopic discoveries OF the present century.