The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-02-24
Mars.

Mars.
When Calico turned towards Mars tie
'aleseope with which he had discovered the
icons of Jupiter, the crescent form Of
Senus, and many other wonders in the
heavens, ne was altogether disappointed.
Ills telescope was indeed too small to shoTs
any features Of ~iutercs. in Nars, though the
plane. o. var Is much nearer to us than
Jayi.e,. StRTs a bEs C small world The
diameter ot the planet u about 4 400 miles
.hat ct our ssrth being nearly 5000. Jupi-
Ger. though uuch farther away. has his i'm
ruen~c diameter Of more than 10000 miles,
{, make up, and much more than make up.
Cor the effect OF distance. With his noble
system Of moons he appears q remarkable
object even with q small telescope, but Mars
sho W fewer features OF interest even with
telescopes Of considerable size.
I; was not, then. till very powerful teis.
scopes had been constructed that astIono-
mers learned what we now know shont
Mara. Il 10 found that his surface is
divided into land and water, like the sur
face Of our own earth. But his seas and
oceans are not nearly 20 large compared
with his continents and lands. Yoa know
that on our own earth the waters cover so
much larger . surface than the land that
the great continents are in reality islands.
Europe, Asia, and Africa together form one
great Island; North and South America
another, not quite so large; then come
Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, and SO
forth; all the lands being islands, larger or
smaller. On the other hand, except the
Caspian Sea and the Sea OF Aral, there are
no large seas entirely land hound. In the
case Of Mars 4 very different state Of things
prevails. The dark partA are the seas, the
light parts being land, or in some cases
cloud or snow. But IN these pictures most
of the lighter portions represent land, for
they have been seen often so shaped,
whereas clouds, of course, would change in
shape.
The planet Mars, like our earth, turns on
its axis, 20 that II has day and night, as We
have. The length of its day is not very
different from that OF our own day. our
earth turns once on it's axis in--but before
reading on, try to complete this sentence for
yourself. Every one knows that the earth's
turning on its axis produces day and night,
and nine persons out of ten, IL asked how
long the earth takes in turning round her
axis, will answer "A hours; mud il asked
how many times she turns on her axis in n
year, will say 365 times, or If disposed to be
very exact, about 3G5t times" But
neither answer il correct. The Garth turns
on her axis about 356t times in each year,
and each turning occupies 20 hours 90
AAAhaNcn LII = tNGOHAh hhh L ItulA VI u
second. We, taking the ordinary day as
the time of a turning or rotation, lose count
Of one rotation each year. 1t Is necessary
to mention this, in order that, when l tell
you how long the day Of Mars is, you may
be able correctly tc compare 1t with our
own day. Mars, then, turns on his axis in
"a hours 81 minutes % seconds and 7
tenth parts OF u second. So that Mars re-
quires Il minutes is seconds, and @ tenths
Of q second longer to urn his small body
once round than our earth requires to turn
round her much larger body. The com
iaon day Of Mars is, however, only about
80 minutes longer than our common day.
Mars has n long year, taking no less than
GS7 Of our days TO complete his circuit
round the sur, so that his year lasts only
about one month and a half less than two
of ours.
Like the earth, Mars has seasons, for his
polar axis, like that Of the earth, is aslant,
and at one part of his year brings his north
ern regions more fully into sunlight, at
which time summer prevails there and win.
ter in his southern regions when ut the
opposite part of his year his southern re-
gions are turned more fully sunward and
have their sumrneT while winter prevails
over his northern regions.
Around his poles, as around the earth's.
there are great masses OF ice, insomuch
that it is very doubtful whether any inhab.
itants of Mars ave been able to penetrate
to his poles, any more than Kane or HAYES.
or Mares or Parry, despite their courage
and endurance, have been able TO reach
our northern pole, or Cook, oil Wilkes, or
James Ross our antarctic pole.
In the summer of either hemisphere of
Mars the north pole SHOWS become greatly
reduced in extent, as is natural, while in
winter they reach to low attitudes sbovying
that in parts Of the planet corresponding TO
the United States, or mid Europe, as TO
latitude, bitter cold must prevail for seve.
raj weeks in succession Prof r. A. Proc
tor, 81. Nicholas.