Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13

so-called canals seemed to connect
the two caps.
| Accepting the older theory that the
| dark surfaces on the plenet were
| OCEANS Schiaparelli, an Italian as
tronomer. in 1877, termed some mar.
row streaks he found connecting these
bodies "canale." Properly interpreted
this word in English would be "chan.
nell But the word was actually trans.
! lated into both English and French
as canal" this indicating that they
were artificial waterways.
X X y
IN 1894, however, Prof Lowell of
= Boston. after extensive observa
tons. declared that the dark spots
were not oceans at all. but great areas
| of vegetation. This theory is some
what supported by the fact that the
spots fade out at certain seasons un.
! til they turn from blue-green. the
color of vegetation, to tawny- brown
| just as our own vegetation does in
Autumn. This seasonal change on
| Mars takes place, too, it was found, in
each hemisphere in turn.
But let us leave Mars now to the
scientists and take side trip to it's
interesting little satellites, Phobos and
DeimOs. We must look closely If we
are to see them. 1t is a sight few
persons, comparatively speaking, have
ever seen. Only about 10 miles in
diameter, they are not only mere pin
points of light in the telescope, but
their light itself is all but blotted out
by the much greater brightness of
their big parent planet
These satellites, however, hold more
than ordinary interest for Prof Hail.
In the very room in which we are
standing, in 1877, his father, Prof
Asaph Hall, too, by name, discovered
them.
He used the same telescope we are
using. And he named them Phobos
and DEMOS in honor of the mythology
cal horses that the ancients believed
drew the chariot of the war god. Mars,
across the heavens. Prophecy full
flied!
To help us single out the tiny
specks' of star dust, Prof. Hall moves
red glass across the face of Mars,
shutting out its light as much as pos
sible. Then, looking hard for a min
ute to accustom our eyes to the glass.
we. are able to pick out DEMOS, the
outer one. BY moving the red glass
trif1e farther in we finally spy the
inner one, Phobos.
The night Is skipping fast, however.
Betelgeuse and the nebula of Orion.
How far and fast we must travel to
behold that great Betelgeuse in it's
greater glory. It's distance from the
earth Is just about 160 light years
Light years. Think of it, light travel
Ing at the rate of 10000 miles per
second takes 100 years to travel from
Betelgeuse to the earth. The light by
which we behold it tonight left that
mighty monarch of the heavens about
a decade before the American Revolu-
ton began,
Prof. Hall, however, by extending
a few Galleries of energy and fewer
minutes of time, can bring it much
nearer US through the medium of his
powerful telescope. Through the
glass 1t becomes the red giant it really
is. its, diameter being about 215, O0O. 900 |
miles. BY comparison, ( the earth
would shrink from view 1t would
not even be sizable rock on one of |
Betegeuse's great mountains, If it has
,
Then on to the nebula. Beteigeuse
being a stud In the shoulder of the
constellation Orion, it is but the work |
of a minute to pick up the nebula in
the telescope. Unfortunately. the
changing atmosphere Of our earth has