St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-19
FACTS ABOUT MARS.
Recent Sensational Discoveries
Made by Astronomers.

SUING months, 1t may not De uEprotfea-
bic to learn something of its history and
the recent almost sensational discover.
les made with regard to it.
Though the smallest o: the planets
except Mercury, says writer in the st.
Louis Republic, Mars has been more
minutely and favorably examined than
any other heavenly body except the
moon. While Venus approaches the
earth much closer than Mars at h~ in
ferior conjunction July 0 this year,
coming within 26,OO0.OO0 miles of as, yet
owing to her dazzling robe of Surteams
she is the most unsatisfactory Of all
telescope objects. Mars, on the con-
trarp, is one of the most pleasing.
Viewed through the lens Jupiter,
with his great red spot, gorgeous
belts of color and numerous attendant
moons, presents nObler aspect,
and the rings of Saturn
show a far more striking phenomenon
than Mars; but while the laSt.Is in real
ity mere dot compared to these mon-
ster planets, his disc is viewed on an
immensely larger scale, for while Jupi-
ter is never less than 369,000,000 miles
away, Mars sometimes approaches
within 35,0O0,000 miles.
But the tremendous interest he pos
SCSSCS lOl OUSCE tClS llCO III tilO loOp thoO
beyond all other planets he has given
positive evidence of close resemblance
to our earth, so it is not only possible but
extremely probable that Mars sup
ports the same forms of life as
are found here. Indeed, it is
far more unreasonable to assert
that this lovely and favored planet
sweeps through space devoid of animal
life to enjoy the beauties nature has so
literally provided, than to speculate on
its habitation by highly civilized race
of beings. For not only has Mars land
and water, oceans and continents (Of
which. by the way, exceedingly clear
charts have been made by Prof. X. A.
Proctor and Others), but it has an atmoS-
phere very similar to ours, clouds,
mists, rain, snow and wind; its day is
very near the same length, and though
axis to it's orbit is so like that of the
earth to It's orbit that the seasons must
be about the same.
The discovery of Mars Is prehistoric.
He is so conspicuous in color and bright
ness and in the apparent extent and
eccentrlcity of his wanderings among
the stars that he could not have failed
to attract the attention of the most
primitive observers. But Mars varies
enormously In brilliancy, at times be-
coming very insignificant, then after a
long interval Of years flashing out into
such extraordinary glory as tJ have been
frequently mistaken for new star by
those ignorant of astronomy. His aver
age distance from the earth at opposi-
tiOn is 4S,600,000 miles; but the eccen-
tricity of his orbit is such that
this distance varies from 35,000,000 to
AO0 n1itac ond tho TrnnnrtIOn of
his brightness at favorable opposition
to an unfavorable one is more than
four to one. Favorable OppOsitio ms
always occur in August, at intervals OF
from fifteen to seventeen years; but
there is a period of still greater magni-
tude, which occurs only once in seven
ty-nine years. In August, 1719, large,
ruddy star was observed shining toward
the south at midnight, far brighter than
any of that color which persons then
living remembered to have seen. As
tronomerS knew this star to be Mars
making his closest approach to the
earth, but to the ignorant and supersti-
tious it caused considerable alarm, as
Baron de Lach relates in his "Corre-
spondance Astronomique."
In 179S it was observed and supposed
by many to be new star, but on that
ness. Its last close approach was in
1877, when Prof. Hall, of Washington.
made his splendid discovery of the tiny
moons of Mars.
The poles of Mars are covered with
brilliant white patches - exceedingly
beautiful telescope objects. The one
turned toward the sun constantly de-
creases in size, while that turned from
it increases. More than one hundred
years ago Sir w. Herschel, reasoning
from terrestrial analogies, as was his
custom, associated these white spots
with the Arctic regions OF earth; though
then it had not been proved that water
in any form existed ON Mars. Recently,
through the wonderful experiments
of Mr.. Higgins, it has been proved
beyond doubt that these white spots
are ice caps. Nothing in the history of
spectroscopic analysis is more remarka-
bic than this demonstration of the exist
ence of water on Mars. That we should
be able to assert as positively as though
we possessed bottle of water from the
Martial seas that water exists on that
remote orb is one of the Veritable won
ders of science. MIR. HugginS made his
discovery in 1864.
Though Mars receives less than half
the amount of heat and light that the
earth does, yet for some unexplained
reason his climate seems singularly
mild, for his ice caps are much smaller
proportionately than ours. Viewed
from Mars the earth must present much
more extensive ice fields to Mars than
he does to US.
The earth, by the way, must be a
splendid feature of the Martial heavens,
and the Marsians envy us our great
nIo for t,a of thQir MA not Ic
but as to % to 100 when compared to
ours, and, while the diameter of the
earth is 7,91S miles, that of Mars is but
4,23O. Still they have the advantage of
US in many ways, for all object weigh
ing 100 pounds here would weigh $50
pounds there, consequently stupendous
feats of engineering must be possible to
them which would be quite out of the
question with us, and certain theorizers
have advanced the Idea that if organic
life there is the same as it is here-and
there is no reason why it should not be
the inhabitants must be fourteen feet
high.
The discovery of the moons is one of
the most remarkable verificatlOns OF
pure fiction on record. Those familiar
with "Gulliyer's Travels" will recollect
his imaginary voyage to the Island of
Laputa, an island inhabited largely by
astronomers. In his account of them
Gulliver says: "TheY have likewise dis
covered two lesser stars cor satellites
which revolve about Mars. whereof the
innermost is distinct from the center of
the primary planet exactly three of its
aiameters, and the outermost five. The
former revolves in the space of ten
hours, the latter in twenty-One and
half" Compare this passage, which
was published in 1727, with the an
nouncement of August, 1877.
The present approach of Mars is rem
dered specially interesting, because
since 1877 the great Lick telescope has
been completed. This great instru-
ment will bring Mars within 1850
miles Of US, and wonderful discoveries
are hoped for.