The Portland daily press., 1894-10-29
THE RUDDY PLANET.
The Observations of Mars and What They
Have Disclosed.

Mars, although the nearest to the earth
of all the planets, Venus alone excepted,
is an object by no means easy to OBJ
serve, even at it's present minimum dis
tance of about forty million miles. To
ealize the extent of the difficulty. even
under the best imaginable conditions of
instrument and atmosphere, let any one
with no previous knowledge of the moon
attempt to settle precise markings, colors
and the nature of objects on our satellite
by simple scrutiny with an ordinary opera
glass. Indeed the moon would, for many
technical reasons, prove the less per-
picking, although the two cases would be
quite parallel in so far as the mere geo.
ometrysof the case is concerned.
Personal differences affect ali sketches
of Mars unduly, and the delicate and
changing local colors add much uncer-
tainty. Still the leading features of the
planets surface are we'll made out, and
their stability leaves no room to doub
their reality as permanent planetar Y
crust. Here, unfortunately, the great
advance in Photographic application
to astronomical requirements has not
yet helped much, although excellent
plates have been obtained by Prof.
Pickering, and at the Lick Observatory as
well; the texture of the sensitized film
is too coarse, and the image of the plane
is too small and faint. The border of
it's disc il considerably brighter than the
interior, as the Lick photographs show
but this brightness is far from uniform,
and is probably caused by the surface
features OF the planet. Also variations
of color in the aikiugs Of Mars depend
upon the diurnal rotation of the planet
and the angle Of vision; and changes of
apparent brightness in certain regions
are as well established as in the case OF
the moon.
Mindful of these obstacles in our own
dag, it is easy to see why che early tele-
scopists failed to discern very much.
Since 1880, with better telescopes, Mar
tian Investigations have rapidly increased
in fulness AID importance,/ B ger and
Maedler. Sir John Herschel Secchi,
Kaiser, Lord Rosse, Lockyer and Lassell
being the chief observers down to the very
favorable opposition of 1862; while since
that time there have been critical ohser-
vations by Daes, Lohse and others, cul-
minating in the classic labors of
Schiaparell, begun at the memorable
oppositlons of the planet in 1877 and 1879
So abundant and careful have been the
drawings OF this planet in the past that
many excellent maps of it's entire sur
face have been made, by Kaiser (lS64l
Proc tor 1S67), Green QS77), Dreyer
(1879), and in particular ty Schiaparelli
QSSS), supplanting all others, from his
elaborate sketches with the 1S-inch Merz
refractor of the Brera Observatory at
Milan. DR.. Wislicenus of Strasbourg
has done excellent service By applying
tn microscope to the more conspicuous
markings, thereby establishing their ac-
curate positions; and it is no exaggera-
tion to say that the aerography of Mars
is now better known than the geography
of immense tracts of gu, own planet
The most casual observer of Mars
would not fail to notice the striking
difference between the brightness of the
two hemispheres-the northern chiefly
bright, and the southern pronouncedly
dark. In fact, the light and dark re-
gions are each very approximately hem
lsphere in area. Generally speaking, the
dark areas are broad zones lying north
west by southeast. 1t is the vast neutral
tint area of the northern hemisphere
which the powerful eye of Sch1aparelIi
has dotted over with numerous darkish
regions of relatively small extent, and
which are connected together by his com
piex system OF "canali," intersecting the
northern Martian continents. These
canal, as Schiaparelli termed them
Channels is the proper English equiva-
lent, not canals, as often carelessly trans
lated), were first seen by him in 1877.
and they require for their easy visibility
a steady atmosphere, and large and
perfect telescope with a trained eye be-
hind it. Not even then are they always
.,s.,; Il VII Howl 1x ki,o
time, the conditions of illumination ap-
pear to be unfavorable, and they are
hard to make out or are altogether in
visible. Straight in their course, only
slightly differing from great circle,
but very different IN length from 400 to
4, 900 miles, they intersect one another
at various angles and terminate in dark
ish areas, many canal, in several re-
gions, being in small dark spot.
as to Mars season and orbital position
with reference to the earth, under which
they may be presented, a given mark
ing OF this type may for long time re-
main invisible; and very often, says
Schiaparelli, they look like gray band,
deepest in intensity at the middle and
shaded at the edges. Not long after the
spring equinox. and in brief duration
of time, Schiaparelli has observed many
of these canali transformd from a single
faint marElng into Il doub one. This
gemination, discovered in 1879 and yeri-
fled at many subsequent oppositions.
shows the two bands ordinarily eonal
and parallel, within few miles of each
other, and of the same color and inten-
sity. Apparently this doubling is peri
odic, fiuctuating with the Martian
seasons.
The axis of Mars pierces the northern
heavens about niwday between the two
bright stars Cephei and Cygni (Deneb),
and no professional motion of the pole
is yet made out. None now doubts the
-~axing and waning of the polar cans