REPORTED ERUPTION ON THE MOON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1531, 13 July 1886, Page 3

REPORTED ERUPTION ON THE MOON.

Following on the news of the eruption of Mount Etna, to say nothing of that whirli has occurred nearer home, comes a startling report to the effect that something resembling a volcanic eruption has besn seen oo the moon

The Courier de ITllinois contains the announcement that a well-known French astronomer has observed what he believes to be fire on the surface of the moon. The phenomenon was first seen by M. Guillaume at Poronnes, and has been verified by the astronomer of the Paris Observatory. They saw a reddish brightness oh a spot near the object known as Ariatarchus, which is a crater formation nearly fifty miles in its longest diameter, and situated in the north-west quadrant of that side of the moon which is turned towards the earth. The region in question is already known to selenogrsphers as the brightest spot on the whole of the lunar disc, and under favorable conditions with a large instrument, it shines like a piece of burnished silver. Hence the possibility that the observers referred to have been mistaken. But, if not, then any little augmentation of light would be inappreciable in competition with the flood of sun illumination'. The time to look for it is from a few days after the new moon to three days before the frill, whan the spot is on the unilluminated part of the disc. v There can be no question (remarks a contemporary), that such a change, it any there be, is a stupendous one, or it could not be perceived, even faintly, at the epormous distance of some 240,000 miles which ordinarily separates us from our companion in the annual journey round the sun.' And'the phenomenon would be all the more interesting, as the astronomers have for many years been of the opinion that the moon is a died-out world. She is generally spoken of as entirely destitute of air and water on her surface. The fact is that we know she has not an atmoshbere which would balance in our barometers a column of mercury more than the thirtieth part of an inch in height, of say one-thousandth part as much as is forced up into the tube by the earth’s atmosphere. Within that very small limit she may possess an envelope of air, for all that we know to the contrary, and some recent observations favor the idea that tba moon has some such ft film of atmosphere surrounding her, »t least on that side which is turned towards ns. Of conrse water is an impassibility in the absence of air, as it is kept in the liquid position by the atmospheric pressure. Remove...that and the water would vaporise to form an atmosphere of vapor which would be easily recognisable by us. Hence, on the most favorable supposition, any form of organic life with which we are acquainted could not exist to start a fire there, arid it is difficult to see where a fire pould obtain the oxygen necessary to supporicombusjiron, If may, therefore, be safely concluded that the rpddish glare' of light claimed to have been seen by the French astronomers cannot be a signal intended by the Seleniats to open up communication with us. The only conceivable explanation of the phenomenon would be that it is a fire of volcanic origin, an eruption of red fiof matter from beneath the lunar crust, which is not yet solidified to the point where such an outrage can belong only to the dead past. The fact, if it be one, will gain additional interest from the observation of the crater Linneeus, which is thought to have undergone extensive changes within the last fpw years. . _____________