Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-10-23
lNTERPLANET SIGNALING.
A Woman's Prize of $4,000 for the
Person Who Shall Find a Way.

a "oman's IrlZe OF 100000 for tho
Person Who Shall Find a Way.
A French Il has bequeathed 1000 0
francs to the Academy of Science, to be
given as Il prize to any one who shall dis
cover any means of communicating with
another world, planet or star. The planet
Mars was suggested in the will as the most
convenient heavenly body on which to
make the experiment.
"This proposition may seem ridiculous,
but it is not any more so than the idea of
James Lick, the founder of the Lick OBJ
servatory, said a man we'll versed in starry
lore.
"The Lick bequest to build the great
telescope was intended to establish the
fact whether or not the moon is inhabited.
Now let us consider the difficulties in the
way of this project. The distance of the
earth from the moon may be stated in
round numbers as 240, 900 miles. 1t is u fact
recognized in military science that a man
can be fairly distinguished by the eye at a
miles distance. In making calculations
regarding vision it is the general rule to
estimate that to be seen a mile away an OBJ
ject must be half a yard wide. The best
telescope has a magnifying power of 1900
liameters.
"Halfthe distance to the moon is 120, 600
miles. Divide this by 1000, the magnify
:ng power of the glass, and you get sixty
yards rs the minimum size of an object in
the moon discernible by the aid of the tele-
scope from the earth. So an object must
be $50 feet wide or thick to be more than
an appreciable dot. have made the most
liberal allowances in this computation.
h atmospheric condition must be per-
feet, and 1000 is an unusually high power
to be used by an astronomer
eff an object must be 1870 feet thick to be
seen from the earth on the moon, it would
be best to make it 200 feet. 10 give the
J inhabitants of the moon an idea that there
are Intelligent beings on earth, it would be
necessary to place. say, three objects in
view OF the moons people-let them re-
main for a tim arranged at the angles Of
a triangle. Then they might be changed
so as to be in a straight line. The man in
the moon, seeing these phenomena, might
conclude that there were intelligent beings
on earth and arrange for some correspond
ing signal tothe inhabitants of earth. But,
while this seems possible, it shows how
preposterous would be the attempt to de-
termine with the most powerful telescope
now in Use whether the moon is inhabited,
Nov, as to the proposed communication
with Mars. At the time when Mars and
the earth are nearest to each other-are in
perlhelion-the distance is in round num-
bers 81, 900, 900 miles. Take half this dis
lance and you ave II, 500, 900 rs the num-
Der OF yards that represents the size of an
object i'll Mars that could be seen that dis
lance with the naked eye. Divide this by
1000, the power of the biggest telescope,
and you have s, $50, the size of the smallest
object plainly discernible at such a dis
lance with the telescope. This is equal to
about five miles.
An object in the planet Mars could be
perceived as a little larger than a dot with
the aid of the largest refractor and under
the most favorable, in fact absolutely per-
feet, atmospheric and other conditions, if
it was five miles in diameter. This is wien
the planet is nearest to us. On the other
hand at that time nothing Oh the earth
could be discerned from Mars, because the
earth would be in q straight line between
it and the sun and in the blaze of the suns
light. An %inhabitant of that planet would
have to wait until the earth was in some
other part of its orbit, and the distance be-
tween the earth and Mars would then be
many times as great rs in periheliOn.
sc it would be necessary to construct
an object, to be discernible on the earth
" h"i' otS O"SiCS L. III uliiIllCleE.
1t might be circular in form. Other struc-
lures not inferior in size would nave to be
erected at distances of not less thar twenty
miles from each other. Then, after these
had remained for a time, their relative po-
~sitions might be changed. These bodies,
moreover, to be clearly distinguished from
the surface of Mars must be Intensely lu-
minous. A solid ball of electric light
twenty miles in diameter would suffice.
considering the size of the structures
required, their distance from each other,
and the necessity of changing their places
to Indicate to a man in Mars thai these lu-
mlnous structures were the result of intel
ligent action and not natural phenomena,
the sum bequeathed by the French nun
may be seen to be greatly inadequate. The
Academy of Sciences at Paris may for this
reason refuse to accept the bequest. If the
sum were offered for a prize essay on some
plan for accomplishing communication
with u sister sphere it would he more rea-
sonable.
"In all the above computations it must
not be forgotten that all the conditions
must be favorable, the atmosphere as well
as the relative positions of the earth and
Mars. Such conditions happen only once
in a great while ."-Chicago Tribune.