The Washington times., 1920-10-11
Famous Astronomer and Writer oI
Scientific Subjects of
Popular Interest.
w yHEN the round silvery disk

w yHEN the round silvery disk
w of the full moon hangs in
w the clear Autumn sky, 1t is
delightful to slip a few astronomi-
cal necessaries into your mental
pockets and make a trip up thither
to take look at the universe from
a different standpoint, and to see
the earth itself as foreign world,
glowing >xith strange colors and
turning in the sky like gigantic
school globe for the instruction and
amusement of celestial children.
II would be best to lie flat on your
back in the middle OF a lunar plain,
or on the top of a lunar mountain,
for IL you were in the center OF the
full moons disk you would see the
sun and the earth both directly over
head and very close together. 1t
would be "new earth" on the moon,
but the earth would present an
appearance such as the new moon
never shows to us. We cannot see
the new moon until two or three
nights after IL has passed by the
sun, and then il appears in the
shape of a crescent after sundown.
But from the moon we could see
the earth right beside the sun, and
it would be a marvellous sight for
the earth would resemble a great
velvety black circle cut out of the
sky and surrounded with a narrow
ring of varicolored light produced
by it's atmosphere. Its size would
seem stupendous. 1t would, per-
haps, suggest the mirky mouth of a
mighty circular shaft driven
straight through the cleaning
star-beds into bottomless space be-
yond. For. from the virtually air
less moon the stars would not only
be visible in broad day. but would
be seen close around the sun, and
their altitude would be amazing.
They would in many places appear
in vast coruscating sheets, making
the heavens look like frosted silver
set with coronets and circlets of
astonishing gems, The sun could
not put them out, because there
would be no air to dfffuse his rays
and thus draw a curtain over the
sky. But the earth would hide
hosts of them behind IL.
A MARVELLOUS SIGHT.
If you stayed a couple OF weeks
on the moon you would see the sun
slowly move away from the earth,
while the latter remained continu-
ally overhead, only swayIng' about
in a small circle, and the starry
heavens would also move like a
vast spanRled curtain behind the
earth. constellation after constella-
tlon passing by in stately pagean-
try. In the meantime the earth it
self would undergo the most won
derful changes OF appearance.
Sterting from the form OF black
circle at the time of full moon, "
(or. the illuminated part of iD
would begin to assume the shape
of crescent about two degrees
from tip TO tip and this would grad
ually change into n half-moon form.
Coincidentally with these changes
In the appearance of the earth. as
the sun moved farther from It, the
sharp line between day and night
on the moon would be creeping
nearer to your position in the CEN
ter OF the lunar disk, and just when
the earth had assumed the shape OF
gigantic half-moon that line
would move over you, and as sud
denly as the dropping Of a curtain,
the long cold lunar night would be
upon you.
There would be no twilight inter
val between day and night as upon
the earth. As tho upper edge OF