The Moon: a Popular Treatise

Part 1

THE MOON

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COPERNICUS AND THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS. ]

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+THE MOON+

+A POPULAR TREATISE+

GARRETT P. SERVISS

+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK+ 1907

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COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Published October, 1907

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PREFACE

THE reader familiar with astronomical literature will doubtless remark a certain resemblance between the plan on which this book is written and that of Fontenelle’s “Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds,” a French classic of the eighteenth century. The author freely acknowledges that it was the recollection of the pleasure which the reading of Fontenelle’s book gave him, years ago, that led to the adoption of a somewhat similar plan for this description of the moon. But, except that in both cases the conversational method is employed, no great likeness will be found between what is here presented and the work of the witty Frenchman.

Having been invited by the Messrs. Appleton & Co. to prepare a small volume, to be based on a series of lunar photographs representing the moon as it appears on successive evenings during an entire lunation, the author felt that the work should be made as entertaining as possible. He has, therefore, avoided technicalities, while endeavoring to present all the most essential facts known about our satellite. What he has written is intended for the general reader, who desires to learn the results of the great advances in astronomy without being too much troubled with the scientific methods by whose aid those results have been reached.

This is the first time, as far as the author is aware, that a series of lunar photographs, showing our satellite in its varying aspects from New to Old Moon, has been presented in a book, accompanied with a description of the mountains, plains, volcanoes, and other formations shown in each successive photograph. The reader is enabled to place himself, as it were, in an observatory of the first rank, provided with the most powerful apparatus of the astronomer, and, during an entire month, view the moon in her changing phases.

The photographs here reproduced were made at the Yerkes Observatory, and the most grateful acknowledgments are tendered to Prof. Edwin B. Frost, its director, for generously consenting to their use for this purpose. He could only have been induced to do so by his desire to see the fruits of the admirable work accomplished by his associates enjoyed by an ever-widening circle.

The series of photographs representing the moon on successive evenings were taken with the 12-inch telescope of the Yerkes Observatory by Mr. James Wallace, who employed a color filter that he constructed specially for this telescope, which possesses a visual and not a photographic objective. The larger scale photographs, representing certain selected regions on the moon, were taken by Mr. Ritchey, now of the Carnegie Solar Observatory at Mount Wilson, California, with the great 40-inch telescope of the Yerkes Observatory. It is unnecessary to speak of the extraordinary quality of these photographs, which have been admired by astronomers in all lands.

It should, perhaps, be added that while the director of the Yerkes Observatory has shown confidence in the author by intrusting to him the use of these photographs, yet, neither Professor Frost, nor Messrs. Wallace and Ritchey are in any way responsible for the statements made in this book. The author has taken pains to be accurate, but if any errors of fact or opinion have crept in, he alone must be blamed for them.

GARRETT P. SERVISS.

CHÂTEAU D’ARCEAU,

CÔTE D’OR, FRANCE, June, 1907.

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CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION 3

I. —NEW MOON TO FIRST QUARTER 47

II. —FIRST QUARTER TO FULL MOON 83

III. —FULL MOON TO OLD MOON 131

Part 2

IV. —GREAT SCENES ON THE MOON 181

APPENDIX 239

INDEX 243

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

Copernicus and the Carpathian Mountains Frontispiece

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MOON SHOWING PHASES OF CHANGE

PAGE No. 1, February 19, 1904; Moon’s Age 3.85 Days 50 No. 2, September 24, 1903; Moon’s Age 3.87 Days 56 No. 3, July 29, 1903; Moon’s Age 5.54 Days 66 No. 4, November 24, 1903; Moon’s Age 5.74 Days 72 No. 5, July 1, 1903; Moon’s Age 6.24 Days 74 No. 6, November 26, 1903; Moon’s Age 7.75 Days 78 No. 7, July 2, 1903; Moon’s Age 7.24 Days 90 No. 8, August 31, 1903; Moon’s Age 9.22 Days 94 No. 9, August 2, 1903; Moon’s Age 8.97 Days 102 No. 10, November 30, 1903; Moon’s Age 11.78 Days 106 No. 11, December 1, 1903; Moon’s Age 12.98 Days 112 No. 12, September 4, 1903; Moon’s Age 13.27 Days 118 No. 13, September 5, 1903; Moon’s Age 14.40 Days 122 No. 14, August 26, 1904; Moon’s Age 15.65 Days 132 No. 15, August 28, 1904; Moon’s Age 17.41 Days 134 No. 16, August 29, 1904; Moon’s Age 18.62 Days 138 No. 17, October 10, 1903; Moon’s Age 20.06 Days 142 No. 18, September 29, 1904; Moon’s Age 20.50 Days 144 No. 19, August 16, 1903; Moon’s Age 23.81 Days 150 No. 20, August 17, 1903; Moon’s Age 24.84 Days 158 No. 21, August 19, 1903; Moon’s Age 26.89 Days 168

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MOON SHOWING SIGNIFICANT FEATURES

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Bullialdus and the Mare Nubium 182

Tycho, Clavius, and their Surroundings 192

The Great Southwest on the Moon 198

The Giant Ring Mountain Theophilus and its 206 Neighbors.

Two Great Lunar “Seas”—the Mare Serenitatis and 218 a Part of the Mare Imbrium

DIAGRAMS IN TEXT

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Phases and Rotation of the Moon 14

The Moon’s Path with Respect to the Sun and the 17 Earth

The Moon and the Tides 23

Effect of Moon, Varying Velocity in Orbit 58 Producing Libration in Longitude

Lunar Volcano, in Section 85

Terrestrial Volcano, in Section 85

Diagram Showing Why the Winter Moon Runs High 170

Diagram Showing Why Moon Rises Later Every Night 173

Diagram Illustrating the Harvest Moon 174

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Part 3

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

ONE serene evening, when the full moon, rising slowly above the tree tops, began to spread over the landscape that peculiar radiance which, by half revealing and half concealing, by softening all outlines, and by imparting a certain mystery to the most familiar objects, fascinates at once the eye and the imagination, I was walking with a friend, a lady of charming intelligence, in a private park adjoining an old mansion in one of the most beautiful districts of central New York. For a long time we both remained silent, admiring the scene before us, so different in every aspect from its appearance in the glare of daylight—each occupied with the thoughts that such a spectacle suggests. Suddenly my friend turned to me and said:

“Tell me—for, like so many thousand others, I am virtually ignorant of these mysteries of the sky—tell me, what is that moon? What do astronomers really know about it?”

“But,” I replied, “you certainly exaggerate your ignorance. You must have read what so many books have told about the moon.”

“Not a word,” was the reply, “or at least, what I have read has made little impression upon my mind. I read few books of science; generally they repel me. But face to face with that marvelous moon, I find it irresistible, and my desire for knowledge concerning it becomes intense. I remember something about eclipses, and something about tides, with which, I believe, the moon is concerned. I recall the statement that the moon has no atmosphere, but does possess great mountains and volcanoes. Yet these things are so jumbled in my memory with technical statements which failed to interest me, that really my ignorance remains profound. But I have heard that many surprising discoveries have been made lately concerning the moon, and that astronomers have succeeded in taking wonderful photographs of scenes in the lunar world. I have, indeed, seen copies of some of these photographs, but beyond awaking curiosity by their bizarre effects of light and shadow, they impressed me little, for lack, I suppose, of information as to their meaning. I beg you, then, to tell me what is really known about the world of the moon. There it is; I see it; I experience the delightful impressions which its light produces—but, after all, what is it, and what should we behold if we could go there? I once read Jules Verne’s romance of a trip to the moon, but unfortunately his adventurers never really got there, and I finished the story with a keen sense of disappointment because, in the end, he told so very little about the moon itself. As for the professional books of the astronomers they are useless to me. Then, please tell me that which, at this moment, with that wonderful orb actually in sight, I so much desire to know.”

It was not possible to resist an appeal so earnestly urged, but I felt compelled to say: “Since you remember so little about the fundamental facts which generations of astronomers have accumulated concerning our nearest neighbor in the sky, I must, for the sake of completeness, and in order to put you au courant with the more captivating things that will come later, begin at the beginning, and the true beginning is not among the mountains of the moon, but here on the earth. We must start from our own globe—as the moon herself did.”

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