Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-07-05
WHOLE NUMBER 1851.
WEATHER ON MARS.
VISIBLE EVIDENCES OF A WARM
SPELL ON THE PLANET.
Extensive Thaw Observed which
Indicated n Summer Season i'm
the Southern Hemisphere OF Our
NeighbOring World.


disappearance was due, of course, to
the fact that it was summer in the
southern hemisphere of Mars, and the
polar SHOWS melted more and more
rapidly as the sun rose higher upon
them. Yet, although the reason was
plain, and because it was plain, one
could not watch the process without
experiencing strange feeling that
amounted almost to awe. 1t is quite
easy, says the Scientific american, to
think dispassionately of the possibility
that some things may 60 on in other
worlds just as they do in this one as
long as your eyes have not confirmed
what is in your mind; but when peer
ing through telescope you actually
behold such occurrences, the effect is
startling. 1t is like coming suddenly
in broad daylight upon the scenery Of
a dream. On June l the snow around
the south pole of Mars was 2,40O miles
across. A snow cap Of proportionate
dimensions on the earth would, in the
northern hemisphere, extend as far
south as St. Petersburg, the southern
point OF Greenland and Mount st.
Elias in Alaska. By July the diam.
eter OF the snowy area had diminished
to about l, 500 miles. On August it
was only 1,100 miles and on August
81, the date OF the summer solstice in
the southern hemisphere of Mars, the
snow cap was but 500 miles across.
But heat accumulates in a Marian
summer after the sun has begun TO
define, just as it does upon the earth,
and accordingly the melting OF tho
SHOWS continued after the solstice was
passed. At the end Of September the
diameter of the snow-covered region
was only about $50 miles, and at the
opening of November it was less than
200 miles.
Now comes a curious fact. About
the middle of October it was reported
that the polar snow cap OF Mars had
vanished; some of the most powerful
telescopes failed to reveal a trace OF it
Yet it is not probable that it had &C.
tually entirely disappeared. The ex-
planation OF the apparent disappear
ance is no doubt to be found in the
fact that as the snow area diminished
it left the pole uncovered by receding
to one side, for previous observations
have shown that on Mars, rs on the
earth, what may be called the L" pole of
cold" does not correspond in location
with the pole of planets axis. Schia-
parelli's observations in 1877 and 1879
showed THAT the center of the snow
cap during its minimum in those years
was displaced towards that side of the
pole corresponding to an areographic
longitude of about 40 degrees. With
the other side Of the planet turned
toward the earth the snow cap would
have been invisible, being, so to speak,
hidden behind the pole. This is ap-
parently just what occurred in tho
middle of October last. The south
pole was then free from ice, and the
center OF the snowy region was dis
placed, as in 1877 and 1879, along the
meridian OF 40 degrees. But it was on
the other side Of the planet which was
at that time presented toward the
earth during the best hours for obser-
vation. and consequently no polar
snow was seen; not because it had no
existence, but because it was con.
cealed.
1t is probable, however, that at its
minimum the snow cap was exceed
ingly small, perhaps less than one
hundred miles in diameter. No such
rapid and extensive disappearance OF
snow and ice ever occurs upon the
eerth, although the advocates of an
open polar sea may find encourage.
ment in the fact that the uncovered
south pole of Mars corresponds in
collar and general appearance with
what are believed to be the water
areas OF that planet, while what re-
mains of the snow cap in such circum-
stances rests apparently upon a mass
of land, perhaps no moro than an
island rising out of the polar ocean.
Owing to the larger eccentricity OF its
orbit, the extremes of temperature ON
Mars are greater than upon the earth,
although the total amount of the solar
heat received by the planet is less than
half as much as we get. But more
important than these differences is the
rarity OF Mars atmosphere, which has
been so clearly demonstrated by the
recent spectroscopic observations Of
Prof. Campbell. 1t may not be scien-
tific, but it is certainly human, to ask
whether it is probable that human be-
ings resembling ourselves were in.
cluded in the field of view of our tels-
scopes last autumn. while we watched
the southern SHOWS ui Mars sparkling
to the sun and melting way at his ar
dent touch. If such beings are there
they must exist in an atmosphere less
than one-quarter as extensive as the
earth's.
A BOYCOTT has been placed upon the
beer manufactured at the New York
Brewery, of Spokane, of which r.
Gorkow is proprietor, and A. Mueller
is manager, because the brewery OBJ
tains its supply of malt from a nom
union establishment in San Francisco.