IS THE MOON REALLY DEAD?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2297, 2 July 1921, Page 4

IS THE MOON REALLY DEAD?

A notable contribution to the literature dealing with the moon is expected as the result of researches which Professor W. 11. Pickering has been making with an 11-in telescope in Jamaica. Addressing the Royal Astronomical Society recently, Sir William Christie, former Astronomer Royal, announced that ho had persuaded Professor Pickering to visit England to give his results to the Royal Astronomical Society, and in the meantime he described his independent observations to prepare the ground by confirming from actual personal evidence the reality of the phenomena. Briefly, the changes noted in certain “craters,’ of which Aristillus and Eratosthenes were given as examples, indicate seasonal effects from day to day of our reckoning. This would correspond to intervals of a fortnight on the earth, in which we can frequently notice great changes. There have only been observed by concentrating attention on the bright part of the moon, whereas previously most of the craters have been observed chiefly when near the terminator, or shadow boundary. It is •possible that these changes are evidence of vegetation, or of melting snow, although there has been so strong a presumption against the moon having any atmosphere or water, or any such thing. Sir Vt • Christie himself admitted that he would not have believed in the markings unless lie had seen them.