THE PLANET MARS.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4592, 18 May 1922, Page 2

THE PLANET MARS.

Of all tile bodies that have their orbit in space, Mars is the one that from all time has absorbed the attention and lired the imagination of astronomers, astrologers, and philosophers. And Mars is still tho butt o 1 tho wits and phoolosophers of the day. To-day the whole scientific world is fascinated with the study of Mars. A little while ago the savants of botii hemispheres were wondering whether and where a comet was going to hit this poor old supposedly ferry-built earth of ours. To-day Mars is coining dangerously near to us at the rate of a million miles per day—so near, that some of the allegedly keenest of brains actually think they might get within speaking distance of some Messenger from or on Mars I But why be sceptic, wlion to-day month Mars will be at its nearest point of contract to New Zealand, and that will bo only 422 million miles away! Why, London is only 10,000 away from us, and yet we in Feilding cannot speak to the Londoners by telephone—yet there are many-initialled savants who not only declare that they can trace canals in Mars, but they expect to communicate with the Martians! True, these scientists with the tape measure are bringing us nearer and nearer to Mars with their estimates corrected in each decade. Some 25 years ago the astronomers assured us tliat'Mars, one of the superior planets which floats nearest to the earth, followed an orbit that took it 152 J millions of miles away from us at the farthest point and 126.1 millions at the nearest point. Now the nearest point of contact has- been reduced to 421 million miles, which is a considerable cut-off, and yet leaves us a mighty long way from saying Hollo! to the pas and mas of Mars. Because Mars, which reaches his maximum brilliancy every two years and seven woeks, has a greenish tinge in spots, that is set down by the imaginative savants as sea water. Then the planet shows, if it does not see, red—and that is land. Between these short-sighted scientists imagine many things.