ASTRONOMERS' VIEWS 

 YirkcH ProfesHors Deprecate Sensational Reports of Planet Mars. 



BV PROK. KI>\VIN R. FROST AM) PROF. E. E. BARNARD 



Astronomers of Vorkcs Observatory 



EXCl.L'SIVK DISHAICH) 



CHICAGO, April 22.— We comply with the request of the Los 

 Anf!;eles Times for a statement concerning the planet Mars, which is 

 said to be of some public interest at present, because we are genuinely 

 desirous that the public should be correctly informed concerning scien- 

 tific matters and particularly those astronomical. We must, there- 

 fore, depreciate the publication of the sensational reports which are 

 appearing so frequently concerning the planet Mars and the possi- 

 bility of communicating with it. 



If we think of the earth's orbit as a circle around the sun, then 

 that of Mars would be drawn as an elongated ellipse outside the 

 circle. It would evidently be nearer to the earth at some points 

 than at others. If the earth and Mars are nearly in the same straight 

 line from the sun and at the point where the orbits come closest to- 

 gether, then this least distance will be about 35,000,000 miles; but if 

 the earth is on the other side of its orbit (on the other side of the 

 sun) the distance will be vastly greater, on the average 230,000,000 

 miles. 



At intervals of little more than two years the planets come into 

 line in this way, and at intervals of fifteen years this occurrence will 

 also be where the orbits are closest together. For this year the least 

 distance to Mars will be 54,000,000 miles, on April 27; on March 20 

 it was 67,000,000, and on May 20 it will be 58,000,000 miles. 



In view of these great distances, it will be clear to any intelligent 

 person that nothing appreciable will be gained in distance by ascend- 

 ing four or five miles above the earth's surface. Even if we could 

 reduce the distance by 20,000,000 miles, which we can do by waiting 

 until August, 1924, the advantage would be slight, except in viewing 

 the planet through a telescope. 



If the decrease in the density of the earth's atmosphere were an 

 argument in favor of making such an ascent, it should be recalled 

 that wireless signals are transmitted through thousands of miles of 

 the earth's atmosphere. 



NO PROOF OF LIFE 



It has not been proved that the planet Mars supports any form 

 of intelligent life, such as that on the earth. On the other hand, 

 the largest engineering operations that we have here would not be 

 visible at such a distance with the greatest telescopes now in use. 



If it can be established that stray wireless signals received at some 

 stations are not due to sending stations on the earth, then it would 

 be most natural to attribute them to the disturbances which are 



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