The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1913-08-13
STRANGE FACTS
ABOUT OUR MOON
1t Is the Most ChangeIess
Object Known.
ROLL OF AGES FINDS It SAME
Only Two Events Ever Occur
The Attenuation of
Day and Night.
A VAST ETERNAL SOLITUDE

The moon is the most changeles:
object within mortal vision. 1t pre-
sents itself to astronomers as dry
hard, rocky structure, devoid alike
of moisture and atmosphere. and
therefore unaffected by the ele'
ments. The stony surfaces of oui
mountains here on earth change In
outline from age to age by flowing
waters, by frost, by driving winds
and pelting hail and rain. None OF
these destructive agencies are pres
ent on the moon. Hence there are
no changes on the lunar surface.
There is no weather on the moon
nor changes of seasons: monotony
reigns unbroken through the ages.
Only two events ever transpire on
the moon, the alteration of day and
night and the falling of an occasion
al meteor. The rotation of the
moon on its axis exactly comedies
with its revolution around the
earth. Thus it is impossible to ever
see the opposite side of the moon.
The day on the moon is nearly a
month long. During the lunar day
the temperature rises to about the
degree of boiling water at sea level
on earth. During the lunar night
the temperature falls to absolute
zero. Such a range of temperature
is without significance on the moon
This change of temperature pro-
duces no effect whatever in a world
where there is neither growth nor
decay.
All meteors striking the moon
grind and pulverize the rocky struc-
ture. This pulverizing process has
gone on throughout the ages.
Hence the moon is probably thickly
covered with dust. Astronomers
believe this to be the case. The
dust created by the attrition of me-
teors cannot rise in clouds as it
would do on earth, but will settle
back quickly; the finer particles
might yield to outside influences
and pass off into space. Some of it
or all of it might come to the
earth. The cosmic dust found in
our atmosphere may be of lunar
origin.
The moon has neither water nor
atmosphere, and never has had
either. Its gravitational force Is
too weak to retain either water or
atmosphere against the superior at
fractions of the earth. Air and wa
ter are created by heat and chemi-
cal action during the earlier stages
of the development of celestial
body The moon probably did not
pass through any such stage and.
therefore, has never been a labora-
tory for the generation of atmos-
phere or water.
The moon has no stratified rock.
The rock strata so notable in the
structure of the earth We're laid
down by the sea. The moon has
never had sea and therefore has
no aqueous rock formations. The
moon seems to be a mere aggrega-
tion of large and small boulders,
held together by mutual attraction.
These boulders here and there pro-
Ject into high mountains. The
bright parts plainly visible to the
naked eye are mountainous. while
the darker parts are the level, dust
covered plains. These lunar surface
features are the most constant and
marks known in celes-
tial OF terrestrial nature. The to-
OF the moon is unaltera-
BILE and a lunar map of two thous-
and years ago, II accurately drawn,
would need not the slightest modi-
fication for the student to-day. On
earth our coast lines change, is
lands appear and disappear, the
green regions swing to and fro
across the ATTITUDES following the
sun north and south. Thousands of
'hanges occur TO the landscapes.
aut nothing OF the kind happens on
he moon. The planet Mars is not
d for its canals and Jupiter pre-
ents varying cloud belts; the sun
itself is often seen 10 have on its
urface great black spots which
'ersist for time, then disappear.
ut no such changes occur on the