THE INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER. 



SEPTEMBER, 18 6 7. 



MAES DUEING THE LATE OPPOSITION. 



BY JOHN BEOWNING, F.E.A.S. 

 ( With a Coloured Plate.) 



Though Mars is, with the exception of Mercury, the smallest 

 of the chief planets in the solar system, exceeding but little 

 in magnitude Titan, the sixth of Saturn's satellites, yet it has 

 always excited great interest, from the fact of its being the 

 only planetary body which in its physical conformation bears 

 a close resemblance to that of our earth. 



With a good telescope we see its surface mapped out into 

 what are believed to be continents and seas, though these would 

 seem to be distributed in the contrary order to that which they 

 occupy on our globe — the great seas being situated near the 

 poles of the planet, while a broad belt of land surrounds it at 

 the equator. Near the poles, but not corresponding exactly 

 with them, are seen ice and snow, which melt as the poles are 

 respectively presented more directly towards the sun. Like 

 our earth, Mars has a cloudy atmosphere, betokening the pre- 

 sence of both air and water. 



The accompanying drawings of Mars, so beautifully rendered 

 in colours, were made in Mr. Barnes's Observatory, at Upper 

 Holloway, with his telescope, an equatoreal reflector of my 

 own make, having a silvered- glass speculum, 8| inches in 

 diameter, which was parabolised for me by Mr. With. Ach- 

 romatic eye-pieces of positive construction were alone employed. 

 The power used was generally 300, but, occasionally, on 

 nights when the air was unusually steady, I have used powers 

 as high as 600, with great advantage. 



Many persons who have seen the original drawings, have 

 addressed such questions to me as these: — But, did you get 

 such definition as you have represented ? Could you really 

 make out all those details ? To answer these questions I must 

 describe the method I adopted in making the drawings. 



A number of circles were previously prepared, each being a 



VOL. XII. — NO. II. G 



