THE MOON.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 81, 12 April 1913, Page 8

THE MOON.

Some extraordinary results have lately been obtained through the attempt to photograph the moon by means of different kinds of monochromatic light. Some of the plates used were covered by a screen made opaque to all rays but those from the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum, •whiles others were exposed to orange or violet light only. The result has show n that many portions of the i. ooa reflect those colours in such a way as to produce quite a different effect of light and dark from that to which we aro accustomed in ordinary photographs taken without any of the moon’s light being shut off. For instance, a particular spot near the crater Aristarchus was found to he invisible in yellow light, faint in violet, and very dark in ultra-violet. By photographic experimentation with volcanic tuff rock stained with sulphur the same result ensued. This is held to bo good testimony that there is a similar material in the spot near Aristarchus, and it is believed that, by taking advantage of the principle that different substances reflect monochromatic rays in different and .characteristic ways, wo may bo able to detemine accurately the nature of the materia! composing the moon's surface. A few years ago this would have seemed a veritable fairy-tale. Another lunar peculiarity Ims recently attracted attention, and an explanation is offered, which is in accord with H. P. Blavatsky’s teachings upon tho subject, - though it will not be found in the toxt-bpoks of astronomy yet. Is tho moon self-lum-inous? We have all seen tho old-

moon “in tan news moon’s arms” ir tho early evening, and those who nr.c before sunrise have also scon the same phenomenon with the waning moon. The visibility of the general surface

of the moon at these periods when there is only a narrow crescent illu-

initiated by tho sun is put down in the text-books to reflected light from tho earth’, which is then ‘‘full” as seen from tho moon. But there are difficulties in tho way of accepting this as the complete explanation, hirst of all it is found that tho surface of tho dimly lighted moon is brighter immediately before the new moon than it is after, and secondly there are variations in tho brightness and colour of the moon at tho times of total eclipse. Every one has noticed that during some total eclipses the moon is so dark as to bo almost or quite invisible, while at others it is a bright coppery red. In some eclipses this light has been so intense that it was difficult to believe that a total eclipse was really taking place. As the moon has no atmosphere which we can detect it must bo from its surface that this variable light comes. A writer in Cosmos (Paris) suggests that a strong phosporescence is aroused by the ultra-violet rays in tiie sunlight, which becomes visible when tho moon is plunged into darkness or when but a strip of bright light is left, as during the few days on either side of new moon. As tho moon waxes the contrast becomes too great for the eye to distinguish the comparatively faint illumination of tho dark side.