The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-03
THE RETURN OF MARS.
Our Neighbor Planet Is Once More
tho Bright Particular
Morning Star.
At Close Range the First Sight
OF Mars Ia Almost Terri
flying.
Of the Earth-WIn Inhabitants 10
Discovered on Marc?

of tho EArth-Wil Inhabitants Bo
Discovered on Mars?
Our neiRhbor planet. Mars. IN once NOR
visible In space. From June to September
1891, his course lay beyond the sun, and b
was invisible, bntowinR to the fact that tn
earth travels faster than he. he ID ugai,
within our range of vision, cleaning in lii
rudy glow from three a. nj, ns mornin,
star, in the eastern heavens. Every day h,
approaches 1,30O,O 900 kilomoters ia kiio.
moter il a little more than hnlf 4 milo
nearer the Garth. every day his apparen'
magnitude increases. 10 that on ths 4th Of
August, 1892, the two worlds will be di
vidsd by a space Of only G5, 200, 900 kilo.
meters.
The approach of the planet to the earth
occurs at intervals Of two yeara, forty
eight days and twenty-three hours, but
these periodical approaches are not to q
Uniform distance. The points Of nearest
approach (opposition) range hetween 81
100000 and 80. 900, coo kilometcrs,
and the facilities for precise
observation vary correspondingly.
The last closest approach OF
Mars was in 1879. Schiaparolli's famous OBJ
Rervations Of the peculiarities of hi5 sur
face, which craAted 80 much sensation at
the tins, and won for Mara the titlo Of the
''neighbor world" wero made as early al
1877. The obsc ,~vations then made were
verified il tho opposition Of 1sS0-61, partly
by himself, partly by other astronomers.
nrl afFor1ol dada f~~ %t.n nkr,I ~ Akn
geography, Or, more properly, the are0gra-
ply Of Mars, which is much more interest
ing than that Of tho moon. There has been
no opportunity for further observations
since then, the oppositionE throughout the
decade having been extremely unfavornble.
The nsxt opposition will be the fret Of a
moro favorable series which entends to
1896, reaching the most favorable point ia
1894. ---s% .
\ The first sight Of Mars through an OBJ
SRervatory telescope is almost terrifying,
even for a person Of good nerves.. It ID as il
one anw the whole earth, with its 10y poles.
as a solid globe, floating overhead. Ono
distinguishes clearly the dark blue aons, and
the brilliant, beaminr, m%any-hued, dry
land-and on this, the dry beds Of a multi
tude Of lakes. bays. CULTS, streams and
ChLtlo, UAcbC lltttGI tlluD pSIEllGl TO GHCQ
other or crossing one another at right
angles, As you continue to look, you note
the variations Of color and of light and
shade: and further that the outlines on one
edge Of the disk pass cut Of sight, while on
the other the landscape expands; you see
that Mars r%evolyeA on his axis, and that
the ends Of the axis are the frozen POLES as
with I'D. There il a further resemblance i'll
the inclination in the AXIS which provides
that on this planet also tina seasons follow
each other in regular succession. The Toe
clust at the roles diminishes in summer,
affording demonstration, not only that
Mnrs is Influenced by the sun's RAYS pre-
cisely as we ave. but also that the sir and
water are identical with ours. In fact, the
meteorology Of MATS il now being reduced
to Il science.
Judging tho two planets by superficial
characteristics, howtv yer, one must admit u
distinction, implying a higher degree Of de-
earth seen from a Distance. present a very
tom appearance, and occupy scat csly a
third Of it's surface, while Mars is girdled
on both sides of the equator by one %contin-1
uous mainland, interseoted by 3 network of
canal and rivers, tho land occupying APP
p~roximatoly three-fourths Of the whole area
Of the planet, and the water only one
fourth. as n consequence of which it may
be that its atmosphere ig less clouded aud
vapor laden than ours. Peculiarly chnraa-
~teristio is the arrangement in which the
geological nature of Mara has laid out the
streams %(canals?). All our streams, With
ont exception, are tortuous, and all increase
in width AZ they near the ocean. On Mars,
on the contrary, the streams flow in straight
lines, and are OF uniform width from source
to mouth. These streams, from SOW
enty to 100 kilomsters apart, have
their banks 50 we'll defined a.
intelligent regulation. It is hardly posi-
BILE to conceive that two parallel canals.
Interested at right angles by a third, Nc in
Opher land. can be the work OF the Gle
l%nentary forces OF nature. Tbs question
suggests itself again by the two canals
flow from ocean to ocean through
the island Hellas. crossing each other at
right angles in the center. No less quas-
is the origin of the great blue Lake
of tho Sun in the center of Kepler land,
with it's three rsctilineRr canals connecting
it with tho ocean.
Ever and ever the question recurs: Ii it
Ia only savsn-teuths less tsic) than
that Of tho earth can be so> yielding thnS
the streams at their origin encountered no
Impediment to thoir direct con 80? @
lavo they really been regulated by the in
habitants OF MafS-an engineering feat
presenting, perhaps, few asrions Difficult
Ties.
But what nN1st exoites our nstonishnent
n connection with tllege canala ia that al
most every one of them is double, i. e.. it
las n parallel canal alongside of it, but Wis
bic at intervals only. This has thoroughly
perpleIed all Investigators. Tho earth has
analogous to aid as to a solution,
IN this account tho return of Mars is
ooked forward to with considerable inter
'st. Inc improvement in optical instrn-
nents within the past decade may probably
lelp to solve the riddle. or what is perhaps
still more!probablc, may present moro rid,
lies for our solution. The occasion of
Iars' next return will ba the FIRST time for
fifteen wears that we have hnd an oppor-
unity of examining his south polar regions.
apart from the scientific interest which at
aches to these observations. it ia an i'm
nense gain TO our intellectual culture, to
the pride, horn Of Ignorance,
ghleh IN earlier centuries prompted man to
egard this earth IA the one inhabited |
phere in the universe. Equal rights for |
planets appears to be the law of nature. |
which certainly has not expended ali her
orees in this dark elod of ours.-Jossf n.
shrlich in Westerrnann'a Monnts-Uefte ,
April. Translated for the I
Digest, New York.