Lunar Landscapes on the Earth.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8959, 7 December 1905, Page 1

Lunar Landscapes on the Earth.

The crater of the extinct volcano, oi Haleakala on the southern promontory of Maui, one of the Hawaiian Islands, presents peculiarities, that resemble closely those on the surface of the moon j and it honee offers itself as a promising field for \yhat an editorial writer in the New York San calls ''close-range astronomy." This mountain, \vc arc told, stands 10,000 feet ■ the surface of the sea and, as shown: l>y soundings, represents a mass about- fivo - :i iles above the mean ocean Uoor, an altitude with, which nothing terrestrial can compare except -the most towering peaks. The writer goes on to say: "From the oiiinmit wall oi Haleakala the eye rests or* a crater some 3QOO feet in depth, from Uu> floor which, again, arise cones of the; la.,t expiring eruptions which reach in souifr cases ail elevation of 2000 feet from thelava ffoor. Seen, from above, this crater is; very similar to many masses revealed upon the moon. The great altitude of the era tor wall of Haleakala, the considerable distance which the. eye must • traverse to reach the? crater floor and the marked con'juration of its crater cones all combine 'to render this spot the laboratory in which ;;tudy of the formation of the lunar surfacemay b<> prosecuted under the conditions of rather than those of nsironomv. the highly rarefied atmosphere is largely efieehve in reducing the irradiation of the* sunlight and thus permits the visual effectsof the crater view to approximate closely ti'.e scene on the .mooji. The absence ot" irradiation is practically noticeable under the white flood of light cast into the crater ' 'e: moon in its tropical splendor at. tiiil. Xiieii t-he shadows and the high licKte are as clean cut as those seen on the U' ( oon itself, and the half-tones are almost as lacking, Tho moonlit view down hio the crater depths shows the terminator of the scape familiar through the telescope." Themethod pursued in this new kind of investigation is simple. Observations on tho summit wall of Haleakala, reveal a series of resemblances to lunar phenomena, in par-ti-nlar spots that aro measured {or identification. Thus, descending to the crater floor, the astronomers are able to place ti"'iiiselves physically u[wr surfaces tluu from a distance of half a mile or so o2er to the unaided eye the same appearance • fiat moon presents to the glass through its 240,000 miles. To quote fur-' liic-r: "Nor does the laboratory method --• -'in' with this possibility of eiofie inspecand giinter's-ehain mensuration. Haleakala is long since dead and cold, tho sutiened record of remote forces of extrusion and eruption. On the neighboring inland of Hawaii these forces are yet aclive on Ma una, ILoa in its two craters ot Kiluuea. and Mokuaweoweo. The finished Vvork in Haleakala may on the other islajuJ identified in its plastic state, and it is possible to observe any stage of the formative process even to its primitive expression in the rolling masses of lava in the (r/cpit oi Kilauea, now in an active states rkv.'M' the whole extent of the Haema'uma. J u; • In an exploration by workers in the field', of astrophysics this summer a great, deal? of work has been done, many pbotographionrgatives secured and measurements taken. o report will be made on this surveyuntil tho physicists have ■ subjected their data to close study-. But enough is known to make it clear that many of the lunar problems axe now in a fair way of settfement.'-'-