Evening star., 1939-07-23
6-MiIe Diameter
Beacon Required for
Mars 10 Flash Earth
Scientists Soy 1t Would
Register Only Flicker
On Largest Telescopes
~ the Associated Press.

VII IOISCSt lSISSSOPSS
~ the Associated Press.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass, July o.
Men of Mars-if there are any
would have to rig up a beacon Of
ordinary intensity at least Is miles
in diameter to flash any how-do-
you-dos to earth on July q when
the rust-red planet will be 36,000,-
900 miles away.
Martian objects must be that size,
two Harvard astronomers said to-
day, to register flicker on the
worlds largest telescopes, such as
those at Mount Wilson, Lick. and
Lowell observatories, which will be
trained on the planet during the
time she will be closer to earth
than she has for IS years, or will be
for II years to come.
And one light wouldn't mean
much" smiled DR.. Bart j. Box, as
his colleague. DR.. Fletcher Watson,
nodded. Perhaps, if string of
great forest fires were set on Mars,
each covering an area squaring
distance equal to the mileage from
Boston to Springfield, observers
might see something resembling a
string of magic lanterns
Best View in Africa.
Should some Martian chamber of
commerce elect to try such a stunt,
however, few scientists in the North
ern Hemisphere of our globe would
see it, for the Harvard men said
best ringside seats for the planetary
visit will be had in South Africa
and South America.
"It's just too bad" one of them
said, "that best views will be had
from south of the Equator, because
astronomy's most powerful equip
ment is concentrated in the North
ern Hemisphere.
This includes spectrographic ap-
paratus and recently improved infra
red Photographic equipment which
might throw further valuable light
on the makeup of the Martian at
mosphere, the nature of certain
mysterious clouds which have been
described as dust storms, and the
constituency of the planets polar
caps"
Without posing as infallible ex-
perts on the lore of the far-away
planet, the two astronomers were
not reluctant to conjecture on the
possibilities of life on it. They ex-
planned that while known scientific
data tends strongly to preclude such
a possibility, no one has definitely
proved that it is uninhabited.
Life Held Plausible.
Life on the ruddy planet has
been considered plausible by at
least one astronomer of worldwide
reputation in the past. Boston's
famed Percival Lowell. founder OF
Lowell Observatory, interpreted as
artificial waterways on the planet
the strange streaks on Mars surface
discovered by Schiaparelli in 1877,
and named by him Canal"
But supposing," said DR.. Watson,
~that there were life on Mars ap-
preaching the order of ours. Those
inhabitants either would have to be
supermen able to cope with condi-
tions that would kill us. or they have
had sense enough to start shopping
around for another planet on which
to ive."
According to his description, an
honest chamber of commerce bulle-
tin from Mars would have to read
Settle on Mars, one of the first
heavenly bodies to cool off after the
creation. We have practically no
water, practically no oxygen in our
atmosphere. The oxygen has gone
into the rocks, and much of our
country is covered with fine red
dust, caused by the oxidation of our
iron deposits.
100 Degrees Below Zero.
The dust doesn't stay put, how
ever, because we have winds of gale
force almost all the time, caused by
rapid changes In our temperature
which ranges from 80 to 80 degrees
at noontime, but falls to 100 degrees
pelOW zero at night.
I'VE have no twilight, and no
dawn. Our daytime sky is no
brighter than twilight on earth, but
there's every chance of romance
here. We have two nice moons, one
OF which remains 1872 hours above
the horizon. Our nearer moon,
Phobos, is as close to us as New
York is to Los Angeles on earth.
And, if you like eclipses, they are a
dime dozen up here. We have as
many as 1000 of them each year.
Come, spend a year with us.
You'll have plenty of time to look
around, because our year has 687
days. And girls-if you happen to
weigh about 200 pounds, you'll find
life can be beautiful on Mars, be-
cause here you'll weigh less than
3d."