The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-04-06
BEAUTY OF THE MOON.
WHAT Is DISCLOSED BY A POWER.
FUL TELESCOPE.
The Mountains Take on Fantastic
Forms-The Shape lie a Beautiful
spheriod-What Is the Secret Of the
Moons voIcanoes7

Pleasures of the Telescope" was the
title of most interesting and instruc-
tive paper. prepared and read by DR.
Albert ID Watson before the Toronto
Astronomical society at its last meet
Ing. Excerpts from the paper are CIV
EN- below:
Notwithstanding the facilities that
the telescope affords for seeing distant
objects, 1t is still true that of celestial
bodies the less distant are often the
more interesting. At any rate, in any
rapid review of tho hosts that ride
within the zodiac, and deck with unox-
ampled beauty and endless reach of
sky, the record must contain some ac-
count of our own beautiful comrade
In the heayens-the moon, the time
measurer OF the east, the great reflec-
tor OF the solar splendor.
| I'm lunar research the telescope Is
OF the utmost importance. What ap-
| pears to be unaided vision as a pale
| disc, constantly varying its faces, and
| partly dimmed with great shadows, be-
comes, when seen through the tel
escope, world Of wonderful interest.
whose luminous mountains stand In
clear, almost startling outline of rings
and chains and beads cleaning AM
sparkling like frosty diamonds upon
snowy globe. or, still more beautiful.
| shining out bright and dazzling against
the unilluminated portion of the
| moons surface.
What fantastic forms the Alps and
Apprentices of the moon and the lunar
crater vast. steep and SCARED with
volcanic power, fling out into clear re-
lief beyond the edge of the termlnator!
Imagine the picture, even at the
earth's distance, a crater wall rising to
a hight of 10000 to 1900 feet over a
vast depression so miles in diameter.
In whose centre Is volcanic mountain
5000 or 5000 feet high. Imagine white
rays striking out into all directions
for hundreds of miles from this CEN
tre and clas ping in their arms large
fraction of the moons surface. Such
Is Mount Tycho that mountain within
mountain. the bright particular
crater of the moon. We look in vain
to the moon for examples of single
mountain peaks, rising precipitously,
one frowning bastion standing upon
another, as in many of the earth's
ranges. Here, instead, we see craters
and moving plains wide and deep,
yawning like monster vortices that
might once have been the abode of q
race entirely shut off from communica-
tion with the other lunarians Such
ring plains as Plato and Archimedes
present wide areas of comparatively
level surface enclosed within high. jag
ged walls. extending in some places
far into the adjacent plains. Else
where Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Aristar-
chus and Copernicus present similar
walls, but within them are enclosed
smaller mountains or hills or craters.
pointing as it seems to volcanic action.
THE form of the moon, which COM
monty seems to be fiat is seen through
the telescope to be that of beautiful
spheroid. This curved surface Is
feature of charming beauty, even when
seen with n very low power. The more
the delighted observer is entranced by
the glory and beauty of the surface of
the moon which lies open to his vision
the more he regrets the impossibility
of seeing the further hemisphere. Ty-
cho has been described as the metro
politan crater of the MOON but how
do we know? What of the others that
we have never seen? What glories
may be concealed from us and revealed
in some degree to the possible former
Inhabitants of Mars? Or has some
terrestrial influence brought IL to pass
that all the lunar craters lean to the
earthly side, and that on the further,
which, without intending to suggest
any unpleasant antithesis, we might
call the heavenly half of the moon,
nothing is to be seen but one vast level
sea bottom, or perhaps monster
mountain may stand sad, solemn and
Silent in Prometheus-like banishment
from the brightness that the earth re-
fleets upon the moons earth-lit hemis-
phere?
Sunlight far surpasses the moon
light in power and usefulness, but what
could be more softly and beautifully
pleasant than the earth shine must be,
could only some impossible inhabitant
of the moon bask in its silvery radi-
nnce? When the moon is new the
Earth is full, that is, at new moon the
sun shines full upon the moon and
hemisphere of the earth. Now, If we
look upon the evening moon with a
telescope upon such an occasion we
bhall see the part beyond the termina-
that part, indeed, of the earth
ward hemisphere upon which the sun
is not shining directly, and then If we
cut the bright illuminated crescent out
Of the field the broad, dim expanse of
the moon will show up with some de-
gree of clearness. We shall see the
in lighter gray distinctly |
the darker and more shadowy
portions. 1t is not direct sunlight |
which reveals this dim portion of the |
moons surface, but the great white
radiance reflected from the moonward |