Mars Globe
date: label: date made
content: ca 1892
name: label: associated person
content: Niesten, Louis
label: associated person
content: Schiaparelli, Giovanni
label: associated person
content: Green, Nathaniel Everett
label: maker
content: J. Lebeque & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: The cartouche reads: “GLOBE DE MARS / dressé / PAR L NIESTEN / d’après les observations faites / A BRUXELLES & A Milan / NOMENCLATURE SCHIAPARELLI / NOMENCLATURE GREEN / J. Lebèque & Co Bruxelles.”
label: Description
content: Since the several planets orbit the Sun at different speeds, Mars is better seen at some times than at others. The opposition of 1877, when the Earth was between Mars and the Sun, attracted widespread attention. This small globe is one result of that attention. It was published by J. Lebèque & Co., in Brussels, Belgium, around 1892. The map was drawn by Louis Niesten, a Belgian astronomer. It incorporates the ideas of Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who saw dark lines on the surface of the Red Planet and referred to them as “canali” (channels). It also incorporates the ideas of Nathaniel Everett Green, an English artist and astronomer who was famous for his drawings of the planets, and who believed the lines to be an optical illusion.
label: Description
content: This globe may have been acquired for the Smithsonian by Samuel Pierpont Langley, the astrophysicist who served as the third Secretary of the Institution, and who established the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In 1900, perhaps in reaction to Nicola Tesla, a quixotic inventor who announced plans to communicate with Martians, the Smithsonian published a lengthy account of Mars and the Martian controversy.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Aréographie. Description physique de la planète Mars,” <i>Ciel et Terre</i> 13 (1892): 195-211.
label: Description
content: Articles on Mars in <Smithsonian Institution Annual Report</i> (1900): 157-172.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Belgium: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Brussels
topic: label: Subject
content: Astronomy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Globes
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.311768
label: catalog number
content: 311768
label: accession number
content: 152769
objectType: label: Object Name
content: globe
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: globe: 4 in; 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22.7 cm x 9.6 cm; 8 15/16 in x 3 25/32 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 3/4 in x 3 7/8 in; 22.225 cm x 9.8425 cm