The Ordway new era., 1914-04-24
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down upon the follies OF the
23 earth with an ironical smile,
is SO close to us that we
have excellent opportunity to pry into
its secrets. Since the telescope was
invented. in 1908. astronomers have
busted themselves in endeavoring 10
find out what this other world LOOKS
like at close quarters, and. thanks
to many fine photograph full OF de-
tail OF landscape, we now have maps
of that satellite which are at least
as accurate as those we have OF GER
tain countries and more ample than
those of the heart of Africa and the
Polar regions.
The moon Is nearer to us than is
any other heavenly body; only 23S,Sas
miles divide 1t from us--a distance
bullet could cover in some eight days
and an express train in some SIX
months-a distance which seems
short, indeed, when we recall the fact
that the sun is four hundred times
further from US. Our huge modern
telescope, instruments which, in size,
suggest big guns. permit US to make
=
were, bring the lunar landscapes as
close to US as. say. London Is to Edln-
burgh. So. by using our eyes. we can
take very entertaining voyages to the
moon. Thus we can see her extensive
gray plains, which are nothing more
than dry beds representing seas that
no longer exist and appear to the un'
aided vision as dark patches; SO we
can note her mountain ranges, wnich
may be compared with the Alps. the
Cordilleras and other chains. not only
In aspect, but also in height-from
5000 to 5000 meters. The biggest
of the moons mountains. called Cur
thus by astronomers. has q summit
which is $500 meters from the plain;
that Is to say, It equals Mount Ever
est, the highest mountain OF the eartn.
And 1t must be remembered that TOT
ty.nine moons could be placed in our
globe, SO that, comparatively. the
lunar mountains are much more I'M
posing than ours. At present. with
the best telescopes and at the most
favorable times. we can observe on
the moons surface tiny craters barely
200 meters in diameter. We're the
moon inhabited, had It cities and
towns and things like our canals
harbors and 30 on, we could see these
with ease. and q place like London.
for instance, would appear as very
bright spot during night time on the
moon. But there is nothing OF the
sort. The moon has neither air nor
water. for It Is q wandering corpse
among the stars.
| Much that we know of the moon Is
puzzling. Notably SO are the remark
| able mountains. some OF which are
shown In the illustrations. The moon
| is one great Norway-mountain after
mountain. But the mountains are not
formed az are those of the earth. They
are rings of stone. in which are coni-
cal mountains. Make a ring of salt
| the table cloth. half an inch high;
in this ring place conical mountain
Of salt rather smaller than thin
BILE; and you have model of noun
tain of the moon. Place q candle 30
that its light causes the salt noun.
tains to cast long shadows on the
cloth, and you have more or less the
aspect of a lunar landscape as re.
vealed by a telescope when the suns
rays are striking 1t cross ways. Such
a landscape as 1t would appear to
visitor to the moon is seen In one OF
the Illustrations.
The moon has probably 100000 OF
these extraordinary stone rings-some
but q few meters wide; others from
so to 12O kilometers! The earth has
no mountains resembling these. and
many have wondered why nature
should have built SO differently on
the moon, have speculated as to how
the particular form Of mountain came
into being. We can only show arti-
fetal mountains" having any resem-
blance to those Of our satellite. A
cinematograph film of shot falling
into a mass Of pulp would make
very good illustration; ring forms.
suggesting the ring mountain Of the
moon. II stone be dropped from
certain height on to thick plaster.
similar ring will be formed. Not
ing this. one feels convinced that the
ring mountains OF the moon were ere
ated in like fashion by the falling
of gigantic meteors on to the moon
while its surface was still in VS.
cous state. How Is It possible. though,
that ring mountains 120 kilometers
wide should be SO formed on the
moon, when we, who are SO near to
It, have never observed meteors OF
anything approaching the necessary
size, have only seen specimens weigh
ing a few Kilograms? We must md
another solution.
II q thick pulp Is being cooked. bub-
bles form on its surface and. in burst
CEN IACKC0N'S