The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1901-03-15
MARS ATITS BRIGHTEST
INTHE MONTH lIOFITS NAME.
Has Been Il Conspicuous Object in
the Evening skies for Months
and is Still q PuzzIer.


and is Still a PHzzIer.
The planet Mars Las bg,n a coust ir-
uous object in the evening skies for saw
eral months and has row reached its
| maximum BRIGHTNESS. L. was sin o.
positionn to the sun February -. rw
or three months h"nc', o wing 20 IN I as
| ing distance, it will c-a'e To force itself
upon public attention, and vi praCti-
| ticaIly dis ippear for two years, ihas-
much as the centre around Witch NJ US
| describes its OF bit is roc very clNs1 TO llie
sun, the interval between its pi.h AMI
7 the eartli'S is n)t uni ovl,. Il one pla "a
| they are only 1900, ,00J miles apart,
And in another fully G9,0J0,00 m.h 8.
1t is at the latter point that we are now
passing the ruliy planet. a February
Opposition" is never so favorable 20 n
study of Martian geography ns an Arg
u st Opposition, there fore, though some
Of the most striking discoveries have
been made at this time OF year.
| ithout d)ubL the or test pr,b', ms
which Il is planet presents u the alton
| onOmerS relate To tn, nature of ,h- -
called canals. PercivIl l.o veil believes
them to be streaks Of dark va;e.nipn,
| following the course of Il system OC irr,-
eating bitches. lie does MT imtsiut
| that these channels are forty, fifty and Il
| hundred miles wide, but that bralchrS
extend latterly from the main water
Gn"I0 tlule, according to his View, d.,
the canals the nselveS bee )m. visibl..
But Mr.. Lowell's conjectures, f,s ina
ing as they are, have no. yet BEEN
backed up by demonstrators, aud are
no. yet entertained b. aStropom rs w!n
are trained III the art of weighing evil
dences AMI who carefully dis. ingu sll b.
tween hypothesis and fact. Anoth,r
suppoSition regarding these strange
markings is that they are IN re Nsu.cs
in the crust Of Mars. A thild way nG
dealing with them is to consider them
an optical Illusion. Sch aya ELI, their
discoverer, and Flammar;on, one OF the
oTever, insist on tie government from
my positive declaration us 10 their na-
ture.
The mystery Of the canals iss,i!l fur
ther heightened by the assertion ihlt at
times they appear double SchiayaIrli
was the first to Announce this peculi IT,
liy. lie was Inclined TO susp ct that in
some way or other the duplicllior WAS
related to change of seasons l. was
equinox on Mars. The amount rt cor
roborative evidence in support of III
occurrence OF termination thus far pre-
sen'ed is rot great, and although at one
time astronomers were inclined t. regal,l
the question as settled aliirnativrIy,
there has since Lcen Il Slight reaction in
their faith. AntOniadi, for instance.
insists that the effect Of doubling cln b
produced in any telescope by 81 giIt iI:-
accuracy in focusing. This CxpltnatiOn
has not Teen lcceivel with uuiy-rSl
favor. Indeed, it proves 100 mnch
Sometimes Schi tyarelii, Lowell aud
others repDrU only two or thee canals
doubled and sometimes score, bu, al
the same time few other cina's appear
single. Now Antoniadi's The Try SENS |
t> require that al shall appear double O,
ali single. AS The mater nov St,u!s.
til re is a great need o! fur
ther observation with special refer, zee |
To termination, and though the dis.amc. !
)f Mars at the pr, sent opposition i, III |
favorable to such stuiy yet the season
IS at hand when, according to Schicy-
,relli, the phenomenon ought to Le ex-
pec.ed.
Pun ing as the CANALS are, though.
Lhry have begun to revoluliOn;Xe sci,.n-
tific notions regarding the Distribution
Of land and water on Mars. Formerly
,he orange and pink ar, as were call d
and the gray, green AID
lue OceaniC. 1T first the canals, v iish
ire generally gray, were only d.tcctrd
IN what were considered l.rd area
But su sequently they acre p3rc .vrd II
what had been regarded rs seas. Thus