The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-03
MARS In OPPOSITION,
Tonight Astronomers All Over the Worlt
~ Will Watch the Planet.

Tonight Astronomers All Over the Worlt
Will Watch the Planet.
This evening promises to be q notable on.
in astronomical annals, and Helena peonl.
who have been Watching the planet Mars
for a week or more will hope hat the sky
will be cloudless. Tonight Mars will b.
in opposition. and - this also occurs dur.
ing the perihelion of that member of the
solar system, the distance between it and
our own planet will be reduced to about
IS, 500, OO0 miles. Only once in fifteen years
this phenomenon OCCURS, the planets dis
tsnoe ranging from 234, 40O.0 O miles. at ita
superior conjunction. to al average dis.
lance of 48, GOO, 900 miles during its opposi.
ther reduction of IL, 900, 600 miles. owing ia
the ecosntricity of the rudy planets orbit.
When Mars was last in opposition sur
prising results were attRined by the then
new twenty-six-i inch equatorial at Wash
inRton. Then it was that Prot. Hall turned
the great telescope upon the planet and OBJ
served for the first time a little satellite.
and four nights later another. One of these
was seven miles in diameter and the other
Ave, revolving at distances from the main
planet of IA. 500 and $3.50 miles respectively.
The discovery Of these twin satellites Of
Mars excited the widest discussion. Prof.
Hall received tho gold medal awarded to
sE0 RIoht68b A~btEOuOU1lCal discovery OF tQe
century and tho Washington observatory
acquired an imperishable repown.
According to the astronomers Mars is in
q frst-rate condition for observation as to
distance. II ia a little low down in the
heavens on account of its south u%eclination.
That is the only drawback; otherwise. its
disc is very large and an ordinary tele-
scope will show ono the polar snow caps on
the dark masses of an orange-red color with
very little irradiation. The planet is NOV
ing 10 slowly that the ordinary observer
before or after opposition. Tonight Mars
will be 26.6 seconds OF an arc in diameter
and it will CROSS the meridian at midnight.
Jupiter. which follows four and a half
hours after Mars and is higher in the heav-
ems, will have a diameter of Ala seconds of
arc. Venur, which follows the sun about
Two and a quarter hours after, will have a
diameter of forty-four seconds.
The diameter of Mars is a little less than
100 miles. Its light and heat. derived
from the sun. is about one-half that re-
ceived by the earth. Its year lasts through
CSC. SO of our days, while its days COMPRISE
"A hours, 81 minutes and 1927 seconds of our
time. Its mean distance from the sun is
14l, 800, 600 miles.
To the question, IFS the planet inhab-
ited?" Prof. George Davidson, of Cali
fornia, responded: There is no means at
all by which we will arrive at the knowl-
enge whether there is human life on Mars
or not. Mars has got a cloud system. It
has got an atmosphere. It has got water
and land. It has got seasons very much
like our OWE, and it has POLAR caps and ice
and snow the same az the earth has, We
might naturally infer that there is a pos
sibility of organized life there. but there
are no possible means of determining it,"