The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-18
At End Of War Mars Shines as
Leading Planet.
TO CROSS MERIDIAN TONIGHT
of Observations-Ca
Do ExiSt-The Colors-In
Straight Lines.

Mars is now the reigning planet. By
8 p. m. it is now two hours high, a
little north OF east, about fifteen de-
planet is too brilliant an object to be
mistaken for an ordinary star.
Since December 10 Mars has been re-
trograding, or moving westward with
reference TO the stars. This movement
will continue until February q, when
the planet will be only about four de-
grees distant from Pollux-a little west
OF south. After that date its movement
will be direct, or toward the east. The
loop" in its apparent path, caused
by these movements, is shown on the
planisphere.
The planets opposition to the sun,
when it will cross the meridian at
midnight and Will be at its brightest
for this year, and in it's best position
for Observing-sin the earth will then
lie directly between it and the sun
will occur on the 18th of this month,
tonight. The conditions for observing
the planet this year are partly favor
able for observers in the northern
hemisphere and partly unfavOrable.
The planet crosses the meridian at
high altitude, and for this reason is
eXcellently we'll placed; but, as an Off
set to this favorable circumstance, it
is now at nearly its greatest distance
from the sun, and, consequently we
shall not pass SO near to it as we some
times do. Our distance from Mars at
the coming opposition will be about
2,00O,O 900 miles, which is about 26,000,
600 miles greater than at the opposition
of 1892. Furthermore, the atmospheric
conditions are always less favorable
for observing celestial objects in the
winter season than in the summer. 1t
is hardly likely, for these reasons, that
any new discoveries Of Importance will
be made this year.
1t has been pretty clearly established
by observations made at the last three
oppositiOns of Mars, beginning with
those of 1892, when Professor w. H.
Pickering obtained so excellent a view
of the planet at Arequipa, in Peru,
that, contrary to the view held until
recently by astronomers generally, if
not universally, Mars has very little
water upon its surface, and that the
grayish and greenisih areas seen upon
it owe their color, in part at least, TO
vegetation. AS to the so-called
canals in Mars, there is no longer
described and depicted by those who
have seen them the best-and very few
astronomers have seen any except the |
more conspicuous of them, for the rea-
son that to see them requires eXcep- |
tiOnally favorable atmospheric condi- |
tiOnS-they form a marvellous system |
attic network of perfectly straight lines, |
covering the entire surface of the |
planet, its dark as well as its light |
areas, thus affording convincing evil |
dence that the former are not seas"
whatever else they are. The true char |
acter of these mysterious lines, which, |
by the way, are not at all times visible, |
nor all visible at one time, but which |
make their appearance successfully |
with an obvious relation to the chang
ing seasons of the planets now the
most interesting question of Marian |
The most probable view |
OF them now seems to be that they are |
strips of VegetatiOn-nOt water courses,
though very likely containing water |
cOurses-since to be visible to us they
must be at least thirty miles in breadth |
and many of them are doubtless much |
wider than this. The theory that they |
are OF artificial origin-perhaps |
works designed for purposes of irriga-
tiOn-has considerable evidence in it's
support, and it would certainly be in-t
teresting should it eventually be es-
tablished.
Mercury is now a morning star.
Venus also is a morning star, visible |
an hour or so before sunrise in the |
southeast.
Jupiter is a morning star, rising at |
about 2:30 a. m. Saturn and Uranus
are likewise morning stars, but are too
close to the sun to be visible Neptune
is an evening star, very near to the |
star which tips the Bulls southern |
horn. 1t shines as star of about the
tenth magnitude