The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-22
lNTERPLANGT SIGNALING,
Wonan's Prize of $4,000 for the
Person Who Shall Find wat

Person Who Shall Find a Way.
| A French nun has bequeathed 100000
| francs to the Academy of Science, TO be
| given as 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 ob-
servatory," said man well versed in starry
lore.
"The Lick bequsst 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 24O, 900 miles. 1t is a 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 mile away an OBJ
jeCt must be half yard wide The best
telescope has magnifying power of 2,O00
diameters
Half the distance 10 the moon is 100, 900
miles. Divide this by 1000, the magnify
ing power of the glass, and you get sixty
yards as 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
The atmospheric condition must be per-
feet, and 2,OO0 is an unusually high power
to be used by an astronomer
"If an object must be $50 feet thick to be
seen from the earth on the moon, it would
be best to make it 200 feet. To give the
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 tor time arranged at the angles Of
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 to the 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
Now, as to the proposed communication
with Mars. At the time when Mars and
the earth are nearest 10 each other-are in
perlhehon-the distance is in round num-
bers $1,000, 900 miles. Take half this dis
tance and you have 1850, coo as the num-
Der of yards that represents the size of an
object in Mars that could be seen that dis !
tance with the naked eye Divide this by /
1000, the power of the biggest telescope, /
and you have s. 30, the size of the smallest /
object plainly discernible at such a dis |
tance with the telescope. This is equal to /
about five miles
An object in the planet Mars could be /
perceived as 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. il /
it was FIVE miles in diameter This is when 4
the planet is nearest 10 US. On the other |
hand, at that time nothing on the Garth /
could be discerued from Mars. because tbs .
earth would be in straight line between
il 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 De
many times as grea. as n perihelion.
So it would be necessary 10 construct
an oDject, TO be dIsCernlDle on the earth
from Mars, say, twenty miles in diameter
1t might be circular in form. Other strac-
lures not inferior in size would have 20 be
erected at distances OF not less than twenty
miles from each other. Then. after these
had remained for time, their relative PC
sitions might be changed. These bodies,
moreover. 20 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 tbe structures
required. their distance from each other.
and the necessity of changing their places
TO indicate 10 4 man in Mars that these IN
minous structures were the result of intel
lge1t action and not natural phenomena,
the sum bequeathed By the French nun
may be seen 20 be greatly inadequate The
A academy OF Sciences at Paris may for this
reason refuse to accept the beqGest. /. the
sum were offered for prize essay OF some
plan for accomplishing Communication
with sister sphere it would De more rea-
sonsble
In all the above computations IL must
not oe forgotten that all the conditions
must ne favorable, the atmosphere as vel
Ss the relative positions Of the earth ard
Mars Such conditions happen only axe
a l. 3 =