The Grenada gazette., 1889-02-28
THE PLANET MARS.
Some Recent Discoveries Made by
Astronomers.

Prof Holden Talks of Its Mountains. VAL
1eys, Rivers, Canals and Seasons
Its Life Manifested on
Grand Scale.
The surface Of Mars when viewed in
the telescope is at once seen to be di-
vided into regions of three classes
whose principal distinction is in color
The reddish regions have been called
continents, islands, land; the dark,
greenish regions have been called seas,
oceans, gulfs; the whitish regions near
the poles OF Mars have been identified
with the polar caps Of ice and snow. In
general these latter wax and wane as
they should with the Martial winter
and summer; and in spite of minor
variations it seems to be fairly proved
that they are in fact what thoy seem to
be-namely, masses Of polar snow or
ice. Ii snow and ice exist on the planet
there must be water there and the va
por OF water. The spectroscope Yields
independent evidence of the presence
OF watery yapOr in the planets atmos-
phere also. Whether the dark green
or the reddish regions are the oceans,
seas and CULTS has never yet been settled
by observation, The colors seera. by
terrestrial analogies, to designate the
green areas as oceans, the red as land,
but this distinction is one based almost
exclusively on analogy. The cncroach-
ment OF green areas upon red ones is
now explained rs partial submergences
of (red) continents by the neighboring
tgreen) seas. But the case may be the
exact opposite, and. in fact, it is quite
possible very different affair altogeth-
gr. Tie lluIbs Ur edges of tile planet
are always of lemon yellow hue,
which tint usual J masks tn sharp lines
of the markings. 1t is by no means
understood how the absorption OF the
planets atmosphere operates.
"A comparison of the earlier and |
later drawings has established one fact |
beyond question. The spots and mark
ings seen by Hooke and Huyghens, in
1869, are to be seen to-day unchanged |
in form. Again, the positions OF the
points OF Mars. which Maedler accu- |
rately fixed more than fifty years ago,
are the same as their positions deter
mined to-day (their latitudes and lon
gltudes) within the small errors insep-
arabic from and to be expected in
this kind of observation. In general
then we may say that the main features
of Mars remain unchanged from year
to year While this is certainly true in
general, Prof. Schiaparelli has demon
stralcd that it is by no means rigorous
ly true. Many parts of the planets
surface vary in color from time TO time;
the boundaries Of the dark regions have
varied to and fro over measurable
spaces; certain Of the more delcaJg
features seem to be more easily seen at
one time than at others NhOurh this
may well be due to the varying trans
parencY of the earth Htmosphcre), and,
finally, the atmosphere Of Mars itself
must and docs produce meteorological
As Prof. Srhiaparelli has I
said, this planet is no desert of arid s
rocks; it is living, and its life is mani t
tested in complex system Of appear {
ances, some Of which are on SO grand :
scale that they can even he detectcd t
from our station on the earth
During the opposition of 1877 NJ. ]
not content with laying
out the boundaries Of the various con- (
tlncnts and seas with a precision as vet t
gave his attention also to t
the del!neation Of the very finest de-
tails of the planets markings. He was
soon rewarded with the striking dis 7
covery of whole network Of fine dark {
lines, which for want Of better name
he called canals They usually ran
from one dark yea or bay TO another. {
Their courses were not sinuous like {
those OF rivers on the earth. They {
are, however, far too broad (about fifty
mites) to bear any real analogy to ter ]
restrial and artificial canals, but we ;
must repeat that this designation is a {
mere name Of convenience. The credit I
OF the discovery Of these canals is en- {
tirely due to NJ. Hchiaparolli who first {
studied them with sufficient care and
made adequate maps Of their courses
Many OF them bad been laid down,
however, in the drawings Of observers |
previous to 1877; and recent observa- j
tions made by large telescopes may be
said to entirely confirm the map OF ,
If rot in every detail, yet !
In every essential respect We have
then to regard the topography Of Mars
as singularly complex considering the
under which we view it, J
To the continents, the seas, the polar
caps OF Maedler we have to add the
network of canals. No new
mystery was add ed by their discovery
.--only a greater complexity. We must
that the distribution Of land
and water on the surface OF Mars is as
vet unknown; that continents, "
seas and ''canals" are alike in being
ncra names TOR markings OF various
cOlnrs ,. u