Evening star., 1954-12-13
New Features on Mars
Seen in Photographs
Carnegie Observations Put
New Light on Red Planet
By Thomos R. Henry

BY Thomos R. Henry
New features of the surface of Mars,
the only other place in the solar system
where life as known on earth possibly
can exist, have been obtained from ap-
proximately S.100 photographs taken
by astronomers of the Carnegie Insti-
tuition of Washington over period Of
three months during the close approach
Of the red planet this year.
These photographs. described IN the
annual report Of the Institution. were
taken with films sensitive to either yel-
low or blue light. Quite different fea-
lures are shown In the two types,
The yellow light pictures, the re-
port says. show quite plainly the mark
ings which sometimes have been inter-
preted as canals constructed by highly
intelligent Martians to irrigate the
great deserts Of the planet. They are
shown as straight lines on most draw.
ings and maps. These photographs.
however, show them as irregular streaks
and very broad. and they hardly could
be interpreted as works of intelligent
engineering. Their real nature remains
question.
Huge "W" Is Seen.
The "blue" pictures show promi-
nent marking near the planets equa-
tor shaped like the letter w with lines
l.100 miles long and round knobs at
the apexes more than 800 miles in
diameter. There Is no indication of this
on other pictures. The knobs are very
bright. one Of them almost as bright
as the planets white polar cap.
This marking is interpreted as q
gigantic, probably semipermanent cloud
formation in the planets very thin up
per atmosphere. 1t Is moving at the
same speed as Mars is rotating.
Another feature shown is an enor-
nous blue-green area In the northern
hemisphere, possibly covered with some
sort of primitive vegetation. 1t never
has been reported before.
The Carnegie astronomers also re-
port taking 3.400 pictures Of Saturn.
some of which show more details Of
this planets rings than 1t has been
possible to obtain before. Nearly 400
photographs of Jupiter were taken
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New Kinds of Stars Found.
Hitherto unknown kinds of stars.
some of them about the hottest in the
heavens, are being discovered by Carne-
gle Institution of Washington astro-
nomers.
One, reported by DR.. Merle F. Walker
of the Mount Wilson observatory staff.
is the most rapidly fiuctuating heavenly
body yet known. Its light rises and
declines as much as two-fold in periods
of from one to 80 minutes and this
fiuctuation Is continuous. Especially
rapid and notable are the fluctuations
in the invisible ultraviolet.
Studies of the spectrum of this star
indicate, the Mount Wilson report to
the Institutions trustees says. that it
is closely related to the fantastic white
dwarfS, cubic inch of whose material
may weigh several tons. but that it is
lot hotter. The white dwarfs are
extremely hot and are believed to be
old stars composed almost entirely of
the nuclei Of atoms.
This curious star. labeled MacRae
43. may be either the remains of a
nova" which fared up to many times
its normal brightness long ago or star
just on the point Of such a super
explosion. The weight of the evidence,
DR.. walker reports, favors the "old
nova" hypothesis. Stars in the positions
Of several Of these are known and IL
of the brightest have been observed in
tensively. Eight Of them show the same
sort of large-scale, rapid and con-
tinuouS fluctuations as the new star, sl-
though they are not so spectacular.
The light Of the others either is con-
slant or varies only slightly.
Thus, 1t is reported, MacRae 43 may
represent an extreme Of the "old nova"
type. Of which great numbei "a Jet
unobserved, may exist throughout the
heavens.
Double Star Watched.
Another curious variable described in
the observatory report is a double star
in the northern constellation OF
Aquarius, which has been observed the
past ten years by DR.. Alfred H. Joy.
One Of the pair has about the mass
and diameter of the sun and is about
the same brightness. The other Is an
extremely hot sub-dwarf. only twelfth
the size Of the sun but with about the
same mass
The small star is surrounded by an
envelope Of hydrogen. helium and
calcium in gaseous form which Is ex-
panding at rate Of about $50 miles q
second. The light of the two-star system
fiuctuates regularly about once every
eight hours. Both stars are moving
together at a speed of about $50 miles
q second.