The Washington times., 1924-08-22


Much of the controversy centers
In Washington, many valuable Oh.
servations of the planet having been
made from the Naval Observatory
here. Among the first photographs
OF the planet. in which the so-calIed
canals were revealed, were those
made through the large telescope at
the local observatory. It was
through this same glass that the
two Marian moons were discovered
by Professor Hall at the close If
the last century.
Next to Earth.
Mars, owing to its fiery.red color,
was associated by the ancients with
strife and warfare and was named
for the god Of wars for this rea.
son. It Is the next planet beyond
the earth, moving outward from the
sun. and travels in its orbit around
the sun in approximately two
earthly years.
The distance Of Mars from the
earth varies from $4,000 900 miles,
at its closest possible approach, as
1t does tonight to more than 14O,-
900, 900 miles. when the two planets
are on opposite sides OF the sun.
Owing to the fact that its axis,
like that Of the earth, is tilted with
relation to the sun, Mars enjoys
practically the same seasons as the
earth. with the exception that its
years and its seasons are twice as
long as ours.
To a man standing on Mars the
sun would appear about half the
size II does from the earth. The
earth appears to the Marian as a
magnificent morning or evening
star according to its position with
relation to the sun. The Marian
with a small telescope, would find
that the earth goes through phases
as does Venus seen from the earth.
1t would vary in appearance from
narrow crescent to full disk.
The Two Moons.
The two Marian moons make the
Marian night glorious. One of the
moons. from the surface Of that
planet, rises in the east and sets
In the west, moving majesticaliy
across the skies during the course
OF the night as our moon does. The
other moon, however, far smaller in
size, rises in the west and sets in
the east, moving so rapidly that it
rises and sets twice in one night.
Mars Is considerably smaller than
the earth and the force of gravity
at its surface Is therefore Tar less
than on earth. A man weighing
$50 pounds on earth, IL carried to
Mars, would weigh considerably less
When astronomers turned the
first large telescopes on Mars they
found that the planet w4s not
uniform in color. The predominant
color was a fiery red but the disk
was diversified by great patches of
dark green which varied greatly
in size at different times Of the
year, and which also changed color
to a certain extent.
Around the polar regions of the
planet were areas of dazzling white
which also changed size according
to the seasons. These correspond
precisely to our own ice-bound polar
regions. There has been intense
controversy, however, as to whether
the Marian polar caps are snow
and ice as we know 1t or are a de-
post of frozen carbon monoxide or
similar gas. Patches OF white often
appear away from the poles in the
portion of the planet which Is in
clined away from the sun, .corre-
spending to our winter. These
patches gradually fade and are
never present in the Marian
summer.
Another Phenomenon.
Another remarkable phenomenon
has appeared as the astronomers
studied the planet. The great
green spots. which were at first
enormously called Seas" diminished
in size in the Marian winters and
often changed color to a dark choc.
olate brown.
The theory was advanced and