Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-12-28

A BRIEF WORD PICTURE or oUF
NEAREST PLANET NGlGHBOR.

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Something About the Chasms and Noun.
tains of Fair and Rather Mysterious
Luna-rhs Sea Basins and Several Other
Important Items.
Though the moon Is so heal US when
compared with the other heavenly bodies,
1t is still a very long way off when esti-
mated by more ordinary standards.
Under the most favorable circumstances
u neighbor is nearly 100000 miles
away. and when viewed from so great a
distance objects have to be of consider.
able magnitude if they are to be visible
at all A lunar mountain, even il II
were as great as Mont Blanc itself, would
only be shown like a tiny hillock by our
mightiest telescopes. No object on the
could be seen unless it were al
least as large as a town hall or a cathe
dral. Were the great pyramid of Egypt
on the moor it would only seem to US az
q speck, which an artist who was max.
ing a sketch at the telescope would indi.
cate by a dot with his pencil.
SIZES BY COMPARISONS.
There are certain spots or marks on
the moor as seen with the unaided eye
with which every one Is familiar. They
car be best observed when the moon is
full, and 1t is a remarkable fact that the
features exhibited by the full moon are
always the same. In fact, the moon al
ways turns the same face to US; we are
never granted a glimpse at the other
side, and as to what that other side may
be like neither / nor any one else can
give you the slightest information. The
diameter OF the moon is about 2,00C
miles, from which we infer that the
hemisphere which we do see has an area
about double as big as the entire surface
Of Europe. Some of those large spots
which form the features on the full moon
are therefore about as large as France OF
Spain. These regions have a different
color to the rest of the moons surface.
and the telescope shows that their floors
are smoother than other tracts of lunar
country.
We are certain that the surface Of the
no longer contains any visible
water. 1t seems to have penetrated into
the interior of the lunar globe at some
period ages before telescopes were ever
directed to the heavens.
Though the ancient sea basins are the
only conspicuous objects in the naked
eye view Of the moon, yet when the tel.
escope Is used these features are not
nearly so interesting as the craters.
These are multitudes of small objects
quite invisible TO the unaided eye. though
many of them must be a hundred miles
or more in diameter.
To observe these objects with advan-
tage we should select an opportunity
when the moon is at or heal the quarter.
In any case we should avoid making oui
visit to the observatory at the time when
the moon is full. You must remember
that the % derives its light from the
sun just as the earth does. The sun H.
Eliminates that half of the moon which
happens to be turned toward it, while
the other half is in darkness, and accord
ingly as we see more or less of the bright
half we see the noon more or less full.
1t is along the diameter of the moon al
the quarter. or at any time along the
boundary between the bright part and
the dark. hat the illumination is best
suited for rendering faint objects visible.
NOT NICE o WALKING.
There is one particular kind Of object
which specially characterizes the geog-
raphy of the moon. The type of this OBJ
ject is a ring, and Of these rings there
are hundreds. They have been most care
fully drawn on the charts Of the moon,
and, indeed, the great majority nave had
special names assigned to them. Let me
try to describe what one Of these rings
would actually look like il you were able
to stand on the moon. You would find
the ring to be a rampant of lofty noun.
tsins, surrounding a rough and rugged
interior. The diameter of this circle will
range from the smallest size that we can
just discern, which will be q few hundred
yards across, up to vast extents Of 1W
miles or even more in diameter, indeed,
IL you were standing in the center of one
Of the larger Of these rings the range OF
moi .ains which encircled it would be
invisible to you, because they would Lie
below your horizon.
While these are the general features OF
the moons geography, some others may
be noted. There are, for example. lofty
ranges Of mountains which, in their alti.
tude and in their massiveness, may be
compared with our Alps or u Apen-
mines, James which, indeed. have been
also applied with appropriateness to
corresponding lunar objects. Imagine,
however. that a walk on the moon would
be attended with most frightful dificul
ties from the nature Of its surface alone,
quite independently Of other impedi-
ments of q still more ~insuperable descrip
ton The entire area of moon land ap
pears to be an utter desert-a desert
too, not Of sand. but Of rough rocks,
carven into the widest forms, and pre-
senting every difficulty TO one who
should try to move across such q country.
L~illiputians trying TO run over q
heap of bricks would. I fancy. have an
easy task Of Il ~ compared with the
conditions under which you or ! would
try to walk upon the moon.
You know how In climbing owe an
Alpine glacier the presence Of Q yawn-