Wonders of the Heavens

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 April 1910, Page 4

Wonders of the Heavens

MARTI AX C.VXALS

That there is not only no evidence of "canals" on the planet Mars, but absolutely no appearance of geometrical .structure-- only irregulary grouped dusky spots—i.s the announcement lr.ade by Kugene .\i>ton:a:!i, I'Ylhnv of the Royal Astronomical S. ciety and director of ti'e .Mars .section of tho British Astronomical Association. At the desire- of Director Deslaudcr.s. f 111.' , Astro-Physical Observatory ::i' Paris. Mr Autoniadi has just competed :r study <.f tho planet .Mars with the great'equatorial tel'.'■•cope at Meiidon, the most powerful in the Old World. Ho says:

"My observations began on September '20 li-.st. fliul I immediately ibund aJthough the 33-inch glass showetl the planet Mars much more detailed than any drawings made in the past, there was no trace, under good seeing, of a geometrical network of canals. This fact lei iik» to publish at once ,-i note in the Athcnae. of Athens, on September 28, t:> the effect that the caiial network was an optical illu■::)ii. A week later Professor l< , rest, of the Verkes Observatory, quite indejvnilc-iitly announceH that the great telescope of the (,'iiicoigo I'nivert-uty was 'too powerful tor ei-i-ls.'

"Tho subject is a very important

■■tie. aurl it should be raised to unmistakable clearness for the public. It was in 1877 that Svliiaparelli ,'.ille:l attention to a series of dark

■tre.iks, furrowing apparently the .Martian deserts, and on these inarkirgs were seen to connect the dusky

-iviis, then considered t:> ha .seas. S'-hiaiiarclli called such streaks 'canals.' Yet ho did not commit himself as to the nature of these objects. It w.'-s soon recognised, however, that bands same 10(1!) milrs lung and cccasimially 200 miles broad could not be artificial water ch.-'.inii-h. I'rofessor I'l. 1 ,, . Marn.ar:l, tile- (/;*-•:( Lest ;:.str.) iioiii'.-r ol iiiir time, aitiuugii using the large of l/isk and Veike.s. ne\ e.r ;:;uv any spii.ler's web on the planet; but his ob:;,'rvati(;ns do not entirely dispose of S-hiaparelli's streaks, since he saw some broad,

Jitfuse. and irregular bands at the pi-I'.vs (if the Italian astronomer's 'canal.-;.'

"Mv own impression confirms the i\---:ilts an: w<l at previously by Professor Hnrmird. The majority of the 'canals' appeared to me i:-; diffuse, irregular streaks; yet :\ coiricli-rabk: no :i: , )-. r of them wevv rr"!ive'.l int:> groups of detache'l spiits, thus .showing us that what ::pp-.'iii-L , :! :ts a straight. line in the iiuj:!i-st instruments of S-hiapni' V i

■■is-iumed, °> very complex, natural •■'.riicturc in the u;ro.at I'Vendi televipa (,f .Unii'sp.'. This tendency of the planet's markings to become irreguhir with an increase <:f aperture is obvious not only in the 'canals' but aH in th" so-called '(■•••.•l-!. , several of which showi"! geometrical forms to the first observers of M'mt. fer when we examine" a o-i'iup of spnts at the limit of visibilitv and subtiMuli'Mii a very small nr.irle our <•>•!• will interpret t.lie complicated structure, which it <".u< v.'.it define, i" Hie simplest possible wav, an , ! will show strai<jiit lines iind cir'-lts there wli!>re nothing of the ki::d actualiv ovists (;:i the ob- ]■'■■'■-, under scrutiny." The Meiidon observations further 1-ad Mr Antoniadi to the. followiuQKen era 1 inferences regarding the srwilled "csuv'.ls" : "First The true appearance of the planet Mars is a perfectly natural one. being comparable with th'it of the moon. Second--T'lider good seeing there is no trace whatever of a geometrical structure, the latter appearing by fh'shes lasting a fraction of a iccni'd. and when definition is unsatisfactory. "Thin!— The Martian desorts are variegate , .! with innumerable ?;pots, which are irregular in outline and intensity, and whoso spor-

adical groupings give I '' se - small instruments. to t!ie 'canal' system of Scliiaperelli. "Hence, although there are 110 'geometrical patterns' on Stairs, or no genuine canals visible, yet the streaks of Hchiaparelli do have an objective basis (groups of dusky spots), and this basis can be photographed. That is how we hear of the 'cabals' boing photographed, while we know that we have never seen a single artificial canal on that planet. "The impossibility of the Mart'an canal network was demonstriM .\1 theoretically by M.r Maunder, _ of the Uoval Observatory. Greenwich; by Dr. C'ertilli, president of the Kocieta Astronnniica. ftaliana, a.nd bv the great American Astronomer, the late Professor Newcomb. The results of 1909 now establish _ that the would-be existence of artificial canals on .Mars is further disproved by the otherwise weighty evidence of observation ''