Tag: Mars

Weird Science, stories, and cartoons concerning Mars, Martians and our attempts to communicate with the red planet

Martians, 100 Years Ago

On: By: Romeyn

Will Earth and Mars Signal to Each Other April 27th?

The near approach of Mars to Earth and the announcement some time ago of Prof. Hubert II. Goddard. of Clark College, that he intended to shoot a rocket to Mars, have awakened interest In the planet again. Wireless experts have received mysterious messages, which some have suggested came from Mars.

“This picture shows a Martian as Scientists who believe there is life on the planet he would appear. He is about nine times the height of man with a huge chest to breathe rarified air of the planet, weak eyes and probably mechanical aid to hearing or wireless more of ordinary communication.” Continue reading “Martians, 100 Years Ago” →

Big Flood on Mars

On: By: Romeyn

 

Special Correspondence to The Press
WASHINGTON, July 2.—Now as never before astronomers at the government observatory can see the wonders of Mars. Starting the first of July, the flood period on the planet begins, and the men at the telescope actually can see the
water as It rushes down one whole side of Mars through the planet’s wonderful canals.

Mars Is getting as close to the earth as it will be in many years. In the pictures the dark area shows the watered parts of the planet. In December the snow cap is large and most of the crop space is waste land. In July, when the sun’s heat melts masses of ice and snow, the water irrigates the whole land through the monster canals the Martians built.

By September the water has largely disappeared from the surface.

Note the great curve the dark or watered section takes in June and July. The melted snow forms small oceans, probably the size of several American states.

Just now, the astronomers assert, the green reflection from the growing crops of the Martians plainly is to be seen through the telescope, though 35,000,000 miles away. They are filled with wonder at the sight, and regret that they cannot talk to Mars.

The Spokane Press. Spokane, WA. July 02, 1909

Arial Houseboats of Mars

On: By: Romeyn


THE planet Mars which is now attracting worldwide attention, may well be termed the planet of romance, since it is enveloped in a mysterious charm, giving the imagination full sway. Some romanticists like Flammarion have pictured the inhabitants of Mars as winged creatures, though whether they arc of the nature of bird, bat or butterfly the French scientist has not at tempted to decide.

It is a strange coincidence, however, that the outlines of the darker portions of the surface of the planet, as delineated by Prof. Percival Lowell of the Flagstaff observatory, Arizona, show a remarkable resemblance to huge batlike creatures apparently floating in the Martian atmosphere. Once the attention is drawn to the strange outlines the wonder is that these seeming aeroplanes of batlike appearance have so far escaped detection. Since flights of imagination regarding Mars seem to be in the ascendant at present owing to the fact that the planet will be at its nearest, and consequently well .placed for observation, during the month of September of this year, may one be permitted to weave the following fanciful theory around the planet of romance?

[…]

May not these huge batlike outlines be airships constructed by the Martians for use in the hour of direst need, in which they ascend above the surface of their planet when they know the springtime floods are due? Just as the Egyptians of old fled from certain regions on the banks of the Nile when they observed Sirius, the dogstar, rising in the morning sky before dawn, warning them of the approaching flood, so the gradual melting of the icecap must be in the nature of a signal to the Martians to embark on their aeroplanes and airships.

excerpt from the The San Francisco Call, October 03, 1909