The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-31
NEWS FROM THE MOON.


An Astronomer Contradicts Damaging Ru-
mors Regarding the Satellite.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK. Oct 30-Paragraphs have recent
ly gone around through the papers concerning
wonderful occurrences in the moon. According
to story, German has. through some mar
velous optical contrivance been able to see beau
tiful cities up there; according to another ou1
usually well-behaved satellite has of late been
the scene of phenomenal disturbances "throw.
ing out sheets of fame," and appearing ''sur.
rounded with deep red belt" trust the read
will not Immediately conclude that the moon
is only gay deceiver when I say, to begin with,
that these stories must be put in the same cate
CORY with Locke's celebrated Moon Hoax" for
the moon really is great deal more interesting
than most persons suppose. It does not need
the discovery of cities and the outburst OF
gigantic volcanoes to make that strange, dead
world captivating to the eye and the inn
agination THE writer is the secretary of the
American Astronomical Society.-Ed.l I have
often shown the moon highly magnifed to per-
sons unaccustomed to looking through powerful
telescopes and have heard so many generally
sef-contaned people utter exclamations of as
tonshment and delight at what they saw that
cannot believe tnat manv persons really know
how wonderfully interesting the telescope study
OF the lunar features Is. Looking into another
| world from safe perch upon this one--for that
| is what the observer with a powerful telescope
seems to himself to be doing-is in itself an oc-
| cupation that almost takes ones breath away. I
have more than once gaZed at the full orb OF the
| moon through telescope until the palpable
| rounding of its globe un der the eye made one
positively dizzy, as if one should be held over
| the edge of the world with four-thousand-mile
| drop beneath him. And don't wonder that the
| inexperienced observers often make mistakes as
to what they see in the moon. am pretty farnil-
lar with the lunar landscape l have many
| times, teescopically speaking, skirted
the beautiful shores of the Bay of Rainbows, gone
| up and down the long mountain chains, admired
| the cleaning cluster of white peaks in the CEN
| ter of the crater of Copernicus and made myself
| familiar with the billowy unduations of the old
| ocean bottoms known under such names as the
| Sea of Serenity and the Sea of Showers and yet
| only few months ago / thought had found
| not only something new but something very
wonderful in the moon. Close under the cir
| cular mountain wall that incloses the beautiful
oval plain called Plato saw, one night round
black spot startlingly distinct against the shin
| ing back ground of the table-lan6 upon which ii
| appeared. Instantly the idea seized my mind
| that here a new lunar crater. probably IN
| eruption at that very moment Look at it as
would, the black spot always appeared to me to
be plainly suspended above the surface of the
moon like cloud. / tried various magnifying
powers, and carefully compared it with the
| mountain shadows and empty crater-throats
in its vicinity, but the impression
was always the same There seemed to be
no possibility that this could be other
than a dark cloud hanging close above the
| moons surface, and it hardly required an effort
of the ina snation to see the red tongues of vol
4 canic flames cleaning through it. Yet, if had
| rushed into print with my discovery. should
I have made laughing stock of myself, for the
II .1~lE g. A..
derful cloud, found that it's aspect had com
pletely changed, and it was now plainly nothing
| more than the shadow of mountain peak upon
the level plain at its foot
| This experience shows net only how easy it is
to be deceived by what one sees in the moon
| with q telescope, but how wonderfully the play
| of light and shadow upon those distant land
1 scapes, as the sun rises or sets over them,
I changes their appearance. There is spot In
I this same region OF the moon where the figure
of perfect cross has occasionally been seen kut
4 observers have watched patiently for years
4 without ever catching glimpse of the singular
phenomena 1t can apparently only be seen
when the surface of the moon is
4 tipped at just the right angle to
the suns rays to bring it out There is place
in the mighty volcanic chain that stretches
the center of the moon where two gigantic
craters have broken in upon one another, end
| right angles / have often watched the sun
light creep across this rough region, and jrst as
it touches the top of these ridges it brings them
out in startling likeness to huge Greek cross
| lying upon the bed of shadow formed by the
yawning throats of the cratera thousands of feet
deep, out of which the ridges rise with preclpIr-
Gus sides. But one must hit upon just the right
time to see this appearance, for in an hour the
sun rises so high upon rEese mountains that the
shining cliffs forming the cross merge in with
the ragged peaks and ridges surrounding them,
and the phenomenon disappears. But notwith-
standing the liability to mistakes which these
| a1Na ofV TiG m =
tainly is wellattested case Of actual
change upon the moon. Among the most
remarkable Of these are the new clefts
.u the moons surface discovered by NJ. Gaudi-
II bertin the great lunar plain called PosidoniuA
Several of these seem to have made their APP
| pearance within recent years. They are, appar-
emily, long fractures in the rocky surface, wide
enough-some of them-to swallow ur town.
and of unknown depth. If such appearances are
! not deceptive, they indicate that dead and cola
| as our satellite seems it may still be undergoing
the throes of cooling planet
Il So the owner Of good telescopes. while able
quickly 10 convince himself that the stories Of
extraordinary happenings in tho moor-Uhiala
occasionally find their way into print. have no
II foundation in fact nevertheless finds thou
! sand strange things to interest HIM there and
most interesting of all is the conviction which
must force itself upon his mind, that this old,
worn-out world in the sky, with its bleaching
| sea bottoms, burned-out volcanoes and desoiate
mountains, shows us how our own globe, now so
brilliant with life, will look long after man and
all his works have ceased to exist.
Il GARRETT p. SERvIss