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

| into their valleys and gaze even upon
| their clearly marked contours We
see the mountains rise from mere foot
hills to great peaks. and marvel when
we trace their shadows, reflected on
| the plains below. 1t Is as plain as
| though we held perfect model in
| clay in our hands.
The craters, however, hold the
greatest fascination for us. Copper
! nicus, the mightiest of. them all,
yawns before u.s., a staggering cavity
sinking into the depths of the moon.
On one side. its walls sink into
shadows; on the other the contours
are as clearly defined as though we
| stood on their edge. Nearby are the
| other famous Observation-Disclosures
| AutolycuS, kepler Plata, Archimedes
and others. OFF to itself is the mighty
cavern of Tycho.
| 1t is hard to believe, as we look
i with growing fascination upon this
| scene, that no life exists there; that
we are beholding a dead planet. Ii
own world. Yet, the best scientific
evidence indicates that the moon has
neither atmosphere nor water. Life,
as we know it, could not exist under
such conditions. Even the volcanoes
are inactive 1t is believed. If life
ever existed there it has long since
become extinct.
X X
How changed is the face of this
sentinel of terrestrial romances
when we view it through the modern
eyes of Calico. 1t is no longer the
smooth, harmless looking old fellow
who smiles all-knowingly upon our
scenes of troth. 1t Is a new world, a
planet, mysterious and forbidding. We
feel as though we could well spend
the rest of the night exploring this
strange celestial way station, but we
must hurry on to Mars.
Once more Prof. Hall hurries to and
from his chart desk. pulling and haul
ing on ropes, throwing levers In and
out. And with each move the big tele
scope moves slowly into its new po-
sition. There is the matter of a few
million miles to be travelled, of course,
before we reach our next stop. Mars,
you will remember, Is between 35,000,
600 and 100000 miles, or there
abouts, from the earth, according to
it's position along it's elliptical orbit.
Some minutes before Prof. Hall has
navigated into position for our closer
visit we have picked up the big
planet, appearing to the naked eye as
a fleck of brilliant reddish blue light
in a sea of smaller sparks. A minute
or so later, however. when Prof. Hall
again turns the telescope over to us,
we are to find that it is still another
new world, a perfect sphere, having
two white caps at either pole, looking
for all the world as the ssnowcaps of
our own poles must appear from a
distance
But whether or not there are any
canals on that distant planet, this one
observer prefers to leave the decision
for those with better eyesight than
his own. There Is a common miscon-
ception as to the meaning of this
word in the case of Mars, however,
and the popular construction given
it is probably altogether different
from what the, discoverer of these
much discussed channels intended.
Many astronomers believe that, the
Marian polar caps are, in reality,
frozen water. These white areas In
crease during the long period the caps
are turned away from the sun, and
gradually contract as the sun shines
upon theirs 1t has been suggested
that the cups might, in fact, be frozen
carbonic. aNld, but It n generally CON
GUIDED thu this is not likely. The