Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-08-10
SUNRISE ON THE MOON
Evidences OF Former Volcanoes Dis
covered by Telescone.

covered by Telescope.
a Boston dispatch says: Last evening
small party assembled to take fare
well view through the object glass OF
the great Russian telescope ere its de-
parture, for its eastern home. The in,
strument was turned upon the moon.
and the result is thus told:
The solid earth slips away from under
their feet. They have left it behind
them. They ore one hundred miles
above the moon, sailing over its surface.
The scenery below the party on which
they fix their gaze is tumultuously irreg-
Glar, and yet bears throughouta general
resemblance. Here is u specimen: A
circular cavi,y, the exterior on one side
and the interior on the other being
brightly Illuminated. They call it cav
lty, but IN the interior it seems level ex-
cept near the center, from which
there rises cone or dome,
bright on one side, on
which the sun shines, and casting a
shadow, on the other along the floor of
the enclosure. That central mound is
higher thar Mount Washington. The
er still, and the enclosure itself is more
than fifty miles across. This is the type
OF lunar crater on grand scale. 9th
ers, b owever. are larger, their diane
ters being from two or three times that
winch we examine aud covering a sur
face IN some instances of nearly twenty
thousand square miles. From this they
range down to insignificance. There
are more than fifty thousand craters on
the moon, which indicate how prevalen
VOLCANIC action once was upon its sur
face. What spectacle our satellite
must have presented at the period of
greatest volcanic disturbance. Fifty
thousand craters! many of them rival
our own globe. Here they are mixed
together in intricable confusion. No
wonder If the observing party are be-
wlldered. They have no time to study
the craters in detail; they must take
them in en- masse.
Now the observers are on the termi-
nator, tha. line which separates the
light and dark parts of the moon and
winch seems SO even to the naked eve,
displaying now every conceivable ir-
regularity. What is that glittering in
the dark? Is it the reflection from some
artificial work flashing the suns rays
DdGh, le!tlnR Iale OF natltatlon and in
dustry? No; it is a mountain peak catch
ing the solar beam, while the surround
ing region is in darkness. On that peak
the lunar day is dawning the long day
OF 3o4 l-2 hours. Could the party have
time to watch it they would see the sun
light gradually steal along its rugged
TANKS. and slowly the whole landscape
become illumined. But it would only
repeat in its general features that on
which they had been gazing. AS the
sun gilds that mountain top does any
living being hail the beams that usher in
the day? Now, il ever, is the time to
ascertain if there is life in the moon.
The observers are gazing through the
greatest telescope in the world. They
strain their eyes to see some sign, some
token that the landscape they survey
is not desert. They are willing to be
convinced where facts command conyic-
ton. 1t is grand, it is magnificent, but
the magniicence of desolation. Where,
then. are the cities, the Notifications,
the cultivated fields, that charmed the
eye and delighted the fancy of the old
er astronon ers? Is it possible that these
once existed and are now no more?