THE PLANET MARS.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1924, Page 3

THE PLANET MARS.

NK\V DISCOVERIES. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CARLE ASSOCIATION (Received this day at ft. 25 a.in.) NEW Y()KK. August 21. .Many oliserviitimis made at the l.owell Observatory confirm the opinion that the heat of Mars i.s snflieietit to support organic lil'e as we him"' it. The .soul hern snow cap i.s <|iiite easily seen, like a hope snoulicld. hut the planet's summer season is ju.sl beginning ami ohservations during the next few weeks are expected to afloi'd interesting ilata. Harvard astionomers watching Mars were rewarded hy the discovery ol new stars in the Magellanic cloud. I hev state the stars are of greater brilliance than any others seen in that group and arc three or four times larger than the famed Giant's Betelgense and A litres. It is estimated there are more than half a million stars that are at least one hundred times ns I innii.s as our sun in the small Magellanic elotid. which is recoding from the Milky Way at a veloeitv of one hundred miles per second.

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(Received this day at 11 a.m.) YANCOBVKR. Aug. i :r,.

i\ message from p’lagstafl -tato- tlmt the presence of steam or vapour, arising from the melting ol tho polar caps, and the appearance ol clouds on the surface, establishing the tact that an atmosphere exists on Mars, are an outstanding development of the study of tho planet at the l.owcll Observatory during observations. Doctor Slipher. the Observatory Director, states tho planet’s surface is divided into red and blue-green regions. The red portions have tjhe same appearance as the earth s deseil regions, and are little alleeted by the changing seasons, but the blue-green regions which seme astronomers contend to be seas, show a tint that changes at different seasons. The present theory is that the bluooreeii are vegetation tor they lade out and later in some sections to a chocolate brown colour. NEW YORK. Aug. 23.

The Week's Observatory of the Mar tiau Perihelion in opposition lias ie veil led nothing revolutionary. mas

much as observers' opinions continue to be contnidietnry It is similar to that of 1870 when the debate concerning the characteristics of Marx began. Nevertheless tho closer view nllnrde.l is an enlargement on the meagre knowledge of the planet. Tins Observatory fit Magstall. Arizona, noted what is presumed to he a greater vegetation growth th.tu \..is formerly discernible. Professor Edwin Ernst. at icrUes Observatory. Chicago, which lots' the largest refracting lens in the World, reiterates tho helief that primal lito m Ala is is almost out of the t|uesliuii. but re-asserted that fungi probably exists

there. It is generally agreed that intlw enmmtinicatitm with the planet hatotally failed. Several stations, notably Vancouver, repeatedly bean, strange combinations lour •dashes, accompanied hy slipping sounds, which however, proved to be messages I rein tho ITiitcd States radio beacons, using a new type of transmitter. Nevertheless. the naval radio stations havo boon instructed to continue It'telling carefully lor unusual sounds.