The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-08-17
SUNRISE ON THE MOON.
Evidences OF Former Volcanoes Dis.
covered by Telescope.

a Boston dispatch says: Last evening
a small party assembled to take a 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: fa-E
The solid earth slips away from under
their feet. They have left it behind
them. They are one hundred miles
above the moon, sailing over its surface.
The scenery below the party on which
they tx their gaze is unanimously irrep-
ular, and yet bears throughouta general
resemblance. Here is q specimen: A
circular cavity, the exterior on one side
and the interior OH the other being
brightly Illuminated. They call it a cav
ity, but in the interior it seems level ex-
cept near the center, from which
there rises a cone or dome,
which the sun shines, and casting a
shadow on the other along the floor of
the enclosure. That central mound ia
higher than Mount Washington. The
enclosing walls which fence it are high
er still, and the enclosure itself is more
than nifty miles across. This is the tyne
OF a lunar crater on a grand scale. 9th
ers, however, are larger, their dame
tiers being from two or three times that
which we examine and covering a sur
face IN some instances OF. nearly twenty
thousand square miles. From this they
range down to in~signincance. There
are more than fifty thousa.~. craters on
the moon, which indicate how ~prevalen
VOLCANIC action C. was upon it's sur
lace. What's spectacle our satellite
must have presented at the period of
greatest volcanic disturbance. Fifty
thousand craters! many of them rival
ing in height the !oftier mountains of
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.
o the observers are on the termi-
nator, that line which separates the
light and dark ports of the moon and
which seems SO even to the naked eye,
displaying now every conceivable ir-
regularity. What is that glittering in
the dark? Is it the reelection from some
artificial work flashing the SUMS RAYS
back, telling a tale of hahitation and in
QuStfv! NO; IL Is q 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 1854 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, if ever, is the time to
ascertain if there is life in the moon.
The observers are gazing through the
greatest telescope in the wo rid. They
strain their eyes to see some sign, some
token that the landscape they survey
rs not a desert. They are willing to be
convinced where facts command convic-
ton. 1t is grand, it is magnificent, but
the m%agniicence of d%esolatior. 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?