Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-02-18
OF MARS
LEADING ASTRONOMICAL EVENT
OF THE MONTH.
oNWAsHlNGToNsB BIRTHDAY
Earth and Mars Will Then Be Side
by side-Gigantic Race of the &C.
IestiaI Bodies - Scientific Belief
That Mars Is Inhabited Now Re-
ceiving Much Attention.

The great astronomical event of the
month of February is the opposition
of Mars. due the 22d Of the month
Washingtons birthday. Indeed, it is
one of the great astronomical events
of the year, for it is more than two
years since the last opposition, which
occurred Jan 18, 1889. On that
date the earth and Mars were side by
side, rushing like two mad race horses,
| in their respective paths round about
the sun. The earth was on it's mettle
and, getting the lead, steadily drew
ahead of Mars. till he was left far be-
hind, and Jan. Is, 1900, saw the two
planets on opposite sides of their or
| bits, for on that date the sun was di-
reetly between them and thus Mars
was in conjunction with the sun.
From that date till now the earth has
| been gaining on Mars until, the 22d,
| they will once more be side by side.
"Opposition" means in the directly op-
posite quarter of the sky from the sun.
! The sun, earth and Mars will be prac-
tically in a straight line, with the
earth between. When it is midnight.
therefore, Mars will be on the me-
ridian. At the beginning of the
month Mars will rise not far from
o'clock. The planet will be in con-
| junction with the moon the 9Th.
Mars is now to come nearer the
earth than he has been for more than
| two years, says a writer in the Brook
| lyn Eagle. The result is that Mars
! will appear much larger and brighter
, than commonly, and yet not as large
and bright as sometimes. For the two
planets do not come equally near at
every opposition. Their nearest ap-
| proach occurs only once in fifteen
years. Owing to the eccentricity of
the orbits of the earth and Mars,
| they come the nearest, 35,000,000
miles, when opposition occurs in Au-
gust Or September; but if opposition
occurs in February or March, they are
as far APART as they can be at such
time, about 100000 miles The
present opposition is, therefore, one of
the poorest possible Still, placing the
present distance of 60.000,000 miles
against the possible extreme distance
of Eat 100000 miles, it is apparent that
Mars is very near.
| Just as the moon is overtaking and
passing the sun every rwenty-nine and
a half days, so the earth overtakes
and passes Mars at intervals of about
two years and two months. Mars
then comes up fiery red in the eastern
| sky, and when at his nearest some
times excites popular apprehension,
even outshining Sirius with his angry
flame. That Mars should appear larger
and brighter at opposition is but
natural, since we are so much nearer
/ the planet than commonly; but for
another reason as well. if the opposi-
ton occur in August or September, for
then Mars it at perhelion, that Is, at
his least distance from the sun, and
he is 100000 miles nearer the sun
at that time than when opposite that
point. The earth's variation of dis
lance from the sun is. on the other
hand, only about 3,250,00O miles. Mars,
therefore, receives so per cent. more
light and heat from the sun at some
times than at others. Hence, If OPP
position occurs at such times Mars is
brighter on this account as well as on
account of nearness.
1t is manifest that a planet that va.
ries it's distance from the sun by 25,-
100000 miles must feel the effect of it
very seriously Indeed, the earth S
slight variation causes our northern
hemisphere to experience eight days
less of winter than of summer. On
Mars, however, according to Lowell,
the northern hemisphere experiences
| 181 days of winter to- lat of summer,
and in the southern hemisphere, lat
| days of winter to 181 of summer. But
it must be remembered that Mars
years, while the diurnal revolution of
that planet gives it day of about
equal length with ours, namely TWEEN
ty-four hours and forty minutes
The diameter of Mars is only about
4,215 miles, making it much smaller
1
about one-fourth the surface of the lat
ter, while it's volume is about one,
seventh that of the earth It's mass
that is, it's matter weighed UPS only
a little more than one-tenth that Of
the earth. The power of gravitation
on the surface of Mars is a little more
than one-third that on the surface of
the earth. This means that a man
weighing $50 pounds on the earth
would, If transferred to Mars, weigh
only about so; therefore, if possessed
Of the same degree of strength which
he enjoys here, he could leap three
times as high as he can on the earth,
and could lift objects weighing three
times what he could lift here, because
they would lose two-thirds of their
weight by being located on Mars. The
planet has two moons.
The orbital velocity of Mars is 899
miles per minute, which is $50 less