Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-12-09
|star SIeuths Prepare to Solve
Mystery When Planet Is
Nearest in 1924.
klNY THEORIES ADVANCED
3s.i.ntitc Eyes to Strain at Telescopes
and Wireless to Be Tried to Read
sky secret-chiIean
Venture Derided.

,th,lgh astronomers are SkeptlcaI OF
no theory of Mare0ni that the Mar
ions are signaling us by wireless,
and take no stock in the 60-foot whirl-
inc dish of quicksilver which it is
ntontsed will magnify the power of
rision 10 25.0OOOO0 times its normal
strength.
In 1894 Mars will come within about
{. ~ O0O 600 miles of the earth. Be-
cause of its eccentric orbit, compared
m the more nearly circular one of the
..arth. Mars approaches that close only
*once in fifteen years.
& In 1924 obseryatories will be much
Nbetter equipped to. study Mars than
a hey were in 1909, when the planet last
,eneared at its biggest and reddest in
I'M sky. In 1924 Mars will he the
z,ynosure Of telescopes all over the
Earth The 100-inch Hooker telescope
+ Mt. Wilson, and the marvellous
h strnments and methods for analyz-
y he LIGHT which are in use there, may
definitely solve the question whether
Mars is Inhabited.
M AS the distance of Mars from the
esrth varies from 35,000O00 to 284-
OG 900 miles, the wireless signals from
n hit planet, if there are any, will have
better chance to register in 1924
h oyer the comparatively brief span OF
35 100000 miles.
Those Signals" From Mars.
For the last 20 years Mars has
een reported frequently to be at
temptng to signal to us by wireless
aays. by flashes of light, and even, ac-
Y Scording 10 some imaginative specu-
~ atists, by writing sign messages of
hlanet-wide size over the ATTITUDES by
bneauS of the Mars canal system. 1t
Mas even been suggested that we ac-
knowledge receipt by forming words
IN vegetation over the blank of the
Sahara desert.
s# The MarcOni wireless commnnlca-
ton theory is more plausible than
tny of the others, because that great
# inventor reports that he has picked
Aup wireless waves 100 miles long,
Swhile the greatest produced on earth
'*by artificial means are about ten
lniles long. Many ways of explain-
+ ing this have occurred to skeptics, but
&#the Marconi signals have more in
Z Them 10 interest conservative scien
lists than any Of the previous types.
81 There was Il sensation in 1900 when
was reported that signaling frcm
Mars had been detected at the Lowell
observatory at Flagstaff, Ari2 This
|kMas based on misunderstanding of
~ telegraph message concerning some
&broiected lights over the rim of Mars.
instead of presenting perfect out
line, Mars showed slight excrescences
be from II to 80 miles above the sur
face of the planet.
Similar Projections From Moon.
VI Similar isolated projections OF light
had been seen on the moon, but this
8sGas easily discovered to be the sun
Fight tipping. the mountain tops, an
fleet visible on earth in mountain
Pus country when the rising sun gildS
X he SUBMITS when tine lower parts
N the mountains and the valleys are
Pull in darkness.
wi But Mars has no mountains, ac-
wording to general agreement among
$pbseryers, 1t was believed also to be
most cloudless. The occasional
Ugh lights, however, are now agreed
e have been clouds which are thought
~ occur though somewhat rarely.
Electric currents WHICH apparently
ander through eternity hit the earth
lere and there, causing a mysterious
passing and cracking in wireless APP
paratuS and sometimes upsetting hu-
man electrical contriyances, as the
@feat magnetic storm of last May did
- an unprecedented scale. Such cur
Fents, called "Strays" or "atmosphe-
les have been occasionally inter-
pfeled as signals from Mars, when
fey came with regularity that
seemed to be directed by human
Rhtelligence. But they have been
% hoWn most Enthusiastically to be con-
Enected with sun spots.
The scheme, attributed to d. David
~ cd OF Amherst, a well-known as
"a fonomer, of using great abandoned
#hlne shaft in Chile for the making of
COLOSSAL telescope, has been the sub
ecl OF no little scientific discussion.
III MS shaft, which is said to have d
Apofoot diameter, is located near the
quatof 1t is, therefore, in the plane
winch the earth and all the other
Nv iahets Whirl round the sun. The
lsit telescope has the disadvantage
- 1t could never be shifted and.
S| ulo only be used for that part of
heavens which passes over it. But
Is calculated that Mars will pass
tsctiy over it when 1t becomes a big
disk in 1924.
Many Astronomers Scott.
uShy astronomers have scoffed at
theory OF such colossal tel
Vpe alleging that if the mechani
uithculties could be overcome the
lhous magnitfcation sought would
# useless, because the observer would
IA 10 nothing but blur On small
1T fSoDelI W1ITianS Vooa OF
nus hopkins had built d practical
-S' Ne-mirror telescope on Long
z "nu oy rotating basin of mercury
- Tie ilquid metal shaped itself into
i<<#S UEunAys 81