The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-07-24
Oth+r Worlds Than Onrs.'

Oth+r Worlds Than Onrs.
When We think how much the as
Economical knowledge of our genera
tion has been increased by the gigan-
tic telescope now in use in all first
class observatories we feel a sentiment
of pity for men like Coperuicus, who
spent their whole lives in struggling
to obtain a knowledge of astronomy
less than is now possessed by every
intelligent school boy. 1t is difficult
to realize that only four hundred years
ago the whole world held the theory of
Ptolemy, that the world was station
ary and the sun and planets revolved
around it, aud that Copernicus, with
the imperfect instruments Of his time,
and by his own unaided reasoning, was
able to overturn that theory and estab-
lish one so entirely opposed to it,
seems little less shan marvellous.
With what unspeakable delight must
the soul of such man enter upon the
life of that sphere, where the truths
towards which he had so long groped
amidst the dimness of earth are fully
revealed to him!
Of all the planets belonging to our
system Saturn and Mars have of late
especially attracted the attention OF
astronomers. The appearance of the
former with its beautiful ring is fami-
liar to everyone who has been FORUM
ate enough to have had view of the
heavens through large telescope. Of
all the starry hosts it alone is SO dis
tiDguished, and that, with its eight
moons, makes it a conspicuous object
and an interesting subject Of study.
The composition of that ring has long
been subject of speculation among
scientists and many theories have been
held regarding it. Since the introduc-
tion of such magnificent lenses the
opinion has been gaining ground that
it is formed by myriads of meteors,
or s'cosmic dust" held in place by the
combined influence Of centrifugal and
centripetal forces. By a series Of the
most careful observations this theory
has been at last established by Prof.
Keeler, of the Allegheny Observatory,
and his conclusions have been accept
ed as satisfactory and final by all the
most eminent astronomers.
NJ. Flammarion describes it thus:
'To conceive the exact form we must
imagine the globe Of Saturn isolated
in space and surrounded at distance
of $4,000 kilometers by a fiat ring,
with thickness of not more than 100
kilometers. Sometimes this curious
system only shows its edge to us and
then appears like thin line in front
of the planet and extending beyond it
on each side. Sometimes it appears
very open and can then be studied to
great advantage. It is divided into
three rings, the outer one dull yel-
low, that in the middle very bright,
while the inner one is obscured like
veil of Grape and fairly transparent, as IS
the planet may be seen through it. "
When we reflect that Saturn is near
ly ten times larger than our globe and
that this ring-like appearance is pro-
duced by millions of meteors-like
those that sometimes stray into the
path of our world-all sweeping on
ward forever in their resistless course,
what an overpowing conception itgives
of the might of the Creator and into
what insigni6cance does man sink be-
fore Him!
This discovery of Prof. Keller $ for
while diverted the attention of as
tronomers from Mars, which had been
the cynosure of all eyes of late on ac-
count of the curious appearances OBJ
served upon its surface. Mars is about
half the size Of the earth and is much
nearer to US than Saturn. In June of
last year the South pole of Mars was
bowed towards the earth at an angle
of 26 degrees, and it was seen that the
whole of the polar regions was cover
ed with an ''ice cap" of snowy white
ness. Bordering the snow was dark
blue band Of color, which varied in
width from one to two hundred and
twenty miles, and which expanded in
two places into great bays. Next be-
yond this was an area of blue green
that gave place to an expanse OF a red
dish ochre color.
Almost Immediately the ice cap be-
gan diminishing in size, and as it
shrank towards the pole the band Of
deep blue followed it, giving rise to
the belief that it was water formed by
the melting snow. Then a rift three
hundred and fifty miles wide appeared
in the midst of the ice cap, with mar
rover rift running into it, and these
spread until they cut the ice cap in
two: the smaller portion of it soon dis
appeared, and the larger shrank in
size, with the dark blue band follow
ing its contour and diminishing in
width also, until in October both dis
appeared, leaving the whole expanse
that had once been ice fields dull
yellow color.
Upon the very day when the rift
was first observed students of the
planet saw a sudden light fash out
from point between the rift and one
of the bays, but it soon vanished. 1t
was this phenomenon that gave rise to
the romantic idea that the inhabitants
of Mars were endeavoring to signal to
the earth. Astronomers, however,
were convinced that the momentary
light was nothing more or less than
the sun shining upon one of the icy
peaks of the planet, which caught his
rays at such an angle as to reflect them
to the earth.
1t has been question Of consider
able interest to astronomers whether
the blue-green region bordering the
melted snow on the opposite side from
the ice cap was water or land, and MIR.
Perciyal Lowell discusses the subject
very entertaipgly in the Atlantic