The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-10-01
TIE HEAVENS IN OCTOBER.


Venus is moving south, and she viii be
in the celestial equstor October q She
rises AZ 4 80 s. n. on the Isl, 5:l7 a m on
the 18th and at SOS a. m. on the 3ist- Jul
pitsr assumes his stationary aspect on the
sd He then begins his retrograce mo-
tion. which viii last until February ~.
1895. He rises thirty-hve degrees north OF
east at s:5I p. N. on the ist, s:5s p. m On
the 18th and at 7:56 p. m. on the Sist. On
the 18th the Pieiades rise az Goo p. m.
Arcturus sets a. p. m. and Fomalhaut Is
on the meridian At $40 p. m. Saturn Is In
conjunction with th0sun on the 10Th, the
same day Mars is in opposition The two
planets exchange honors. Saturn oecom-
ing q morning star and Mars an evening
star. The latter rises at 6:42 p. m on the
LIST. $50 p. m. on the 18Th and ct 10 p. m.
on the 5Ist. He rises about thirteen de-
grees north of east through the month.
The hunters moon of October VIII re-
peat to large extent some OF the features
of the harvest moon of September. The
intervals between the times of rising near
the full moon of October will not be so
short as the intervals IN September. But
the moons meridian altitude will be low
near her first quarter and high near her
last quarter, the same as it was In Septem-
Der.
"The fret watch OF the night Is given
To the red planet Mars.
This is because the warrior planet is ap-
preaching his opposition, which takes
place on the 10th. The planet viii then be
about 40, o00, 900 miles from us, or 5000, coo
miles further away than he was at the
famous opposition of 1892. Though only
about three-fourths as bright as he was At
the last opposition, yet he is now in a
more favorable position for observation
on account of his northerly defamation.
Astronomers. have again started vigor-
Gus campaign of research, directed toward
this interesting planet. as it a world like
ours?" is the question asked by the inhab-
itants of Earth.
Camille Flammarion, the French as
able to assert it." Richard A. Proctor,
the English astronomer, says: 1.-THE
planet Mars exhibits in the clearest man.
ner the traces of the adaptation to the
wants of living beings such as we are &C
quainted with" Notwithstanding this
high authority it must be confessed that
the matter of lite on Mars is still wrapt
in uncertainty. Sir Robert Ball, the Irish
astronomer, speaks guardedly. He says:
Though there may once have been, or
on Mars. the laws OF probability would
seem against the supposition that there is
such lite at this moment"
Investigations recently made at the
Lick observatory tend to confirm the lat
ter view.
Prof. w. w. Campbell in the results
of his researches says, among other
things:
1.-THE spectra Of Mars and our moon OBJ
served under favorable and identical cir
cumstances seem to be identical in every
respect. II Mars has an
atmosphere of appreciate extent its alb
sorption effect should be noticeable, es-
pecially at the limb of the planet. NY
observations do not show an increased alb
sorption at the limb. This portion of the
investigation greatly strengthens the
view that Mars does not have an extern.
sive atmosphere"
If the conclusion reached by Prof.
Campbell Is true it destroys many theories
heretofore held regarding the surface con-
ditions of the planet.
1t is a prevalent belief that clouds float
in the atmosphere of Mars and that they
sometimes hide portions of the surface
from US. If the atmosphere of Mars is as
rare as it is on the moon corresponding
conditions probably exist. In that case
the planet would have no clouds.
The moon comes $50 times nearer to US
than Mars. Yet astronomers have never
detected on the moon any sign of an
aqueous vspor of sufficient density to hide
any portion of her surface from us. The
strong desire to believe that Mars is in
habited leads many to construe appear
ances in manner not warranted by sound
reason. For instance, the eminent French
astronomer before quoted, becomes very
happy in his description of the landscape
of Mars. He speaks of ''puriing brooks
flowing over their bed of sun-giided ueb-
bles; rivers crossing plains. and falling in
cataracts to the bottom Of valleys or slowly
descending to the sea over their beds of
fine sand" All this may be true, yet science
does not warrant so broad conclusion
from the appearances so far observed on
the surface of Mars. ORRIN +. HARMON.