Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-10-27
No LIFE ON MARS.
ELEVATIONS INDICATE NO
WATER THERE.
rop OF LICK OBSERVATORY
avs EXPERIMENTS TAKEN DIS
PROVE THEORY PREvI-
oUsLY HELD.

,-,dsnce tending to disparage the
~ that life as it exists on the earth
bs sustained on Mars has been OBJ
I'D BY Prof. W. W. Campbell, director
;ck observatory. As q result OF bis
=, observations from the summit OF
amt whitney, Prof. Campbell says he
,roved that there is no water vapor OF
,,reciable quantity ON Mars. He also
.rs that there is no evidence that Mars
inhabited.
prof. Campbell says that the photo
.nbs taken from Mount Whitney OF the
.-rm Of Mars, as compared with
apis OF the spectrum OF the
emonstrate conclusively the truth
ssertion. When the expedition re-
,,a last week ii was thought that the
,,suce OF water vapor might be shown.
I,ce that time, no Sever, the negatives
h,.ined during the periods Of observation
.ve been developed and the result has
,.u to the contrary. In speaking Of the
roedition and its results Prof. Campbell
hid
sThe expedition had for its purpose
.udy Of the question Of whether water
Lpor exists in the atmosphere Of Mars.
~ observations made on the nights of
III. and were manly Photographic.
HOW THE TEST WAS MADE.
awa,er vapor in the atmosphere of
bv planet causes dark bands to be
bmed at certain definite positions in
be spectrum Of that planet; conspicuous
hnds IL water vapor is abundant; in
|opsrieuous bands il the quantity is
light.
.fhe observer OF Mars must look
trough the earth's atmosphere; and the
rest quantity OF water vapor in our at
nophere, il the observer is near the sea
esel or at ordinary attitudes, blots out
be effect OF any Marian vapor, making
solution OF the problem impossible. By
sending Mt. Whitney to an altit ude
4 ll,50l feet, our expedition placed it.
eli above probably four-fifths or more
1 the earth's water vapor. Further,
be air on Mt. Whitney was astonishingly
leaf during the time Of the observations.
"Even small quantity OF water yapor
this high altitude would be almost IA
i to success il we did not have fairly
method OF eliminating its
1ecls. Our method was as follows: Our
loon has no appreciable atmosphere. The
unar and Marian spectra are affected
ike by water vapor in the earth's atmos-
here. These spectra are photographed,
ne Immediately after the other, while
,nditions in our atmosphere remain un-
langed, and with the moon and Mars at
ls same altitude above the horizon, SO
at their rays traverse equal paths in our
mosphere. II the vapor bands in the
srtian spectrum should be found to be
ronger than in the Lunar spectrum, we
lould conclude that Mars has water va
II in considerable quantities. II the
'nds in two spectra were equally strong,
at would show that water vapor on
srs did not exist in sufficient quantities
be detected by speetroscopic methods.
"The latter condition was found to ex-
when these methods were applied I'M
u the superlativeiy favorable conditions
listing on Mount Whitney.
THREE SETS OF PICTURES TAKEN.
'Both the spectra were photographed
hen Mars and the moon were near the
'rizon, again when they were at medium
iitudes, and finally when they were 40
'grees above the horizon.
'This does not mean that Mars has no
ater vapor, but only that the quantity
esent, II any, must be very light. Let
recall the fact that we see Mars by re-
cted sunlight. The rays which reach
II Instruments passed from the sun into
Marian atmosphere, for the most part
'wn to the surface of the planet, and