The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1899-08-18
MARS At CLOSE RANGE.
Easy to study His Face When Only
Thirty-five Million Miles Away.

Thirty-fve Million Miles Away,
All the monster glasses with which
the late rapid advance has been made
in knowledge of our celestial neigh
bors have come into being since the
Todd in the st. Nicholas. Until then,
in this country, the Harvard telescope
of fifteen inches was the largest.
About 1860 one Of eighteen and half
inches was ordered for the University
of Mississippi; but with the breaking
out Of the war telescopes had to wait,
and these lenses are now at the North
western University, in Evanston, Ill.
1t is only since 1870 that really huge
instruments have multiplied and are
nightly turned upon the starry skies to
ask the questions which seem to our
impatience so slowly answered.
But many answers have come, after
all, and some things are clear which
before could only be surmised. For
instance, we feel quite sure now that
Mars has an atmosphere, though not
more than half as dense as our own;
but far better than none, as we can
tell by looking at our bright though
dead and desolated moon, from which
air and water has long since disap-
Speared. And if Mars has air, the polar
caps alone would seem to show that he
has also ice and snow; and there ap-
pear to be, lis well, areas of water or
marsh, though less in extent than the
land. The northern hemisphere looks
brighter through the telescope, even
showing tints of red and yellow, which
astronomers are. inclined to think are
chiefly dry land probably desert; while
the southern is dark, the ''seas' brown
or dull gray, quite as water might ap-
pear. These spots were first called
seas, like the smooth regions Of the
moon, and the name continues in both,
whatever they may be.
In 1877 Mars was at his nearest
to us; near, that is, from an astron-
omer's point Of view, though really at
the enormous distance Of thirty five
million miles. Yet a great deal was
learned about this neighbor in the sky
among other things, that he is attend
ed by two tiny satellites, or moons,
never seen before And the same year
an italian astronomer, Signor Schia-
parelli pronounced skeea-pa-rel-ly)
made careful studies and drawings Of
the strange markings on Mars, COM
pleting, with the fine telescope ut
Milan, series Of elaborate sketches
afterward combined into an accurate
detail map.
Again, in 1892 and 1894, the earth
and Mars came near each other in their
fight through space, though somewhat
farther than during the year 1877. And
within the last few months we have
been once more in a good position to
observe each other. But we are favor
ably placed because only under these
conditions can we see the north pole
Of Mars, and so much more is known
about his south pole that there is, of
course, strong attraction in the mys-
terious north regions. Only at this
great distance is the north pole gra-
ciously tilted toward us, so he has been
constantly watched; and so he will be
again in little over two years. Eight
years, however, will pass before the
Martian south pole can again be stud
led to good advantage; in September
of 19O9 too, all observatories will be
on the eager lookout for news from
this fascinating planet.