September 28, 2015


News Clips For The Day


1 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-warns-world-about-repression-in-un-speech/

Obama warns world about repression in U.N. speech
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS
September 28, 2015

Photograph -- President Obama addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 28, 2015. REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
Play VIDEO -- Obama and Putin to discuss Syria, ISIS in meeting at U.N.


President Obama condemned leaders who abandon democratic principles in an effort to control their populations Monday, paying special attention to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We're told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder, that it's the only way to stamp out terrorism or prevent foreign meddling," Mr. Obama said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. But he rejected this theory, saying, "In accordance with this logic, we should support tyrants like Bashar al-Assad who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children because the alternative is surely worse."

The president also raised the conflict in Ukraine, condemning Russia's intervention in the eastern part of the country and the failure to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means.

The speech served in part as a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Mr. Obama will meet face-to-face later Monday for the first time in more than a year. In addition to Ukraine, the two leaders are at odds about Syria, where Russia is helping to prop up Assad.

"I believe in my core that repression cannot form the social cohesion for nations to succeed," the president said. "Dictatorships are unstable, the strongmen of today become the spark of revolution of tomorrow. You can jail your opponents but you can't imprison ideas."

The president also urged countries to resist the temptation to "return to the old ways of conflict and coercion."

"We live in an integrated world, one in which we all have a stake in each others' success. We cannot turn back those forces of integration. No nation in this assembly can insulate itself from the threat of terrorism or the risk of financial contagion; the flow of migrants or the danger of a warming planet," he said. "The disorder we see is not driven solely by competition, nations or any single ideology, and if we cannot work together more effectively we will all suffer the consequences."

This is true for the United States as well, he said, holding up the war in Iraq as an example that showed that largely unilateral U.S. action and money could not bring about stability.




"We're told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder, that it's the only way to stamp out terrorism or prevent foreign meddling," Mr. Obama said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. …. The president also raised the conflict in Ukraine, condemning Russia's intervention in the eastern part of the country and the failure to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means. The speech served in part as a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Mr. Obama will meet face-to-face later Monday for the first time in more than a year. …. "We live in an integrated world, one in which we all have a stake in each others' success. We cannot turn back those forces of integration. No nation in this assembly can insulate itself from the threat of terrorism or the risk of financial contagion; the flow of migrants or the danger of a warming planet," he said. "The disorder we see is not driven solely by competition, nations or any single ideology, and if we cannot work together more effectively we will all suffer the consequences."

I have seen the human inability to work together successfully all my life. I think we will just have to “muddle along” as we always have. We will have some prosperous and peaceful times and others which are marked by hunger and war. We are in one of those increasingly terrible times now. We may have to group together with Russia and other untrustworthy nations such as Iran to put a stop to the machinations of radical Islam without that “warm fuzzy” feeling that we have with most European nations.

There may possibly be an increasingly aggressive Russia to contend with. We dealt successfully with them on the NASA space program, however, and we can do it again. Putin in particular is not irrational, as Kim of North Korea seems to be. We need to work with them because the Russian military is strong and is committed to fighting ISIS, but they will remain a natural enemy to what we hold dear – a free and democratic way of life because that is out of keeping with their basic political philosophy. Then there’s the uprising of neo-Nazism in several European countries plus, we should admit, in the USA as well. That is even more difficult to deal with because it is marked by cruelty to its minorities. We simply mustn’t have another situation like that which occurred under the rule of Hitler.

When economic forces cause human tragedy and are exacerbating the current trend of worrying environmental changes as well, which are largely due to the commonplace burning of coal for power plants. Still the Koch brothers compete against the development of good renewable energy such as solar so that they won’t lose any of their precious profits. There’s also the huge amount of gasoline and diesel that is currently necessary for transportation. It’s an endless cycle that will not stop until we either run out of our supply, or a new generation of battery powered transportation methods are developed. We do have electrically powered cars and trains now. That’s progress.

Luckily science does succeed in producing a constant run of new discoveries and technological developments, so I have some hope about that. As for the human race turning over a new leaf and becoming good neighbors to each other, I have much less hope. So much of the things I see in the daily news are due to hardwired emotional imbalance and a certain amount of what I call sin. Man being abusive to his fellow man is half insanity/stupidity and half evil. I don’t believe there will be any worldwide peace in my lifetime. Perhaps the Pope’s way can be of help, though. I hope so.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-bishops-who-covered-up-for-abuse-guilty-of-wrongdoing/

Pope makes unprecedented statement on sex abuse scandal
CBS/AP
September 28, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Pope Francis meets U.S. clergy sex abuse victims
Photograph -- Pope Francis talks aboard the papal plane while en route to Italy September 28, 2015. REUTERS


ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE -- Pope Francis has defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops over the priest sex abuse scandal but says - for the first time - that those who covered up for abusers are guilty of wrongdoing.

In a wide-ranging press conference en route to Rome from his first-ever visit to the United States, Francis also declared conscience objection a "human right," explained his love affair with American nuns and discussed his own star-power, which was fully on display during his six-day, three-city tour.

He also invented a new Italian word to describe the exuberant reception he received in New York City: "stralimitata" - roughly, "beyond all limits."

In the 47-minute exchange with reporters on his plane shortly after take-off from Philadelphia, Francis called sexual abuse by priests "a sacrilege," CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

As for victims and relatives who cannot forgive abusive priests, Francis said he fully understood.

"I pray for them," Francis said. "I do not judge someone who is not able to forgive."

On his last day in the U.S., Francis on Sunday met with five abuse survivors of sexual abuse and issued a warning to bishops that they would be held accountable if they failed to protect their flocks.

"Those who covered this up are guilty," he said. "There are even some bishops who covered this up. It's something horrible."

While the Vatican has cracked down on priests who rape and molest children in recent years, it has long been accused of turning a blind eye to the bishops who moved abusers around rather than report them to police. Francis has agreed to create a tribunal in the Vatican to prosecute these bishops for abuse of office and has accepted the resignations of three U.S. bishops who mishandled abuse cases.

Francis defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops in Washington earlier in the week, saying he wanted to acknowledge that they had suffered too. Advocates for victims had denounced his praise as tone-deaf.

"The words of comfort weren't to say 'Don't worry, it's nothing.' No, no, no. It was that 'It was so awful, and I imagine that you have wept so much,'" he said.

On Sunday, Francis directed his attention to the victims of abuse themselves, meeting with five survivors, including people who had been molested not only by priests but also abused by family members or educators. He apologized to them that often their accusations weren't taken seriously and promised to hold bishops accountable.

He recalled that in his previous meeting with survivors of sex abuse, in July 2014, one told him that her mother had lost her faith and died an atheist after learning that a priest had violated her child.

"I understand this woman. I understand, and God who is better than me understands," Francis said. "And I am sure that God received this woman. Because what was groped and destroyed was her flesh, the flesh of her daughter. I understand. I cannot judge someone who cannot forgive."

Philadelphia has been at the center of American Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal. Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia was the first U.S. church official ever convicted in the handling of abuse complaints. But a state appeals court ruled Dec. 26 that the state's child-endangerment law in the late 1990s did not apply to supervisors like Lynn.

In another issue pressing on the American church, Francis was asked about the case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk jailed for several days after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite the Supreme Court's ruling making same-sex marriage legal nationwide. Davis said such marriages violate her Apostolic Christian faith.

Francis said he didn't know the case in detail, but he upheld conscience objection as a human right.

"It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right," Francis said.

Francis said he was surprised by the warmth of the welcome he received in the U.S. despite criticism from conservatives over his environmental and economic messages.

"In Washington, it was a warm welcome, but a bit more formal," Francis said. "In New York, a bit 'beyond all limits.'"

"In Philadelphia, very expressive. Different ways, but the same welcome."

He said he was also impressed by the piety of Americans and gave thanks there were no incidents during the trip.

"No provocations, no challenges," he said. "They were all well-behaved, normal. No insults, nothing bad."

Conservative American commentators had been deeply critical of Francis' priorities prior to the trip, blasting his eco-focus as flawed and even criticizing his decision to streamline the church's annulment process by saying it amounted to a "Catholic divorce."

Francis denied the change would facilitate divorce, saying it merely simplified the church's process for determining if a marriage was valid.

Francis once again pronounced his love for American nuns, saying they had worked "marvels" in education and health care in the United States and were simply "great."

"The people of the United States love their sisters," Francis said. "I don't know how much they love their priests, but they love their nuns. And they are great. They are great, great women."

His praise was noteworthy, given the Vatican under his predecessor had launched a crackdown on the largest umbrella group of U.S. sisters, accusing them of straying from orthodoxy and not emphasizing doctrine enough. Under Francis, the takeover ended two years early without any major changes. A separate Vatican investigation into the quality of life of America's sisters similarly ended up thanking them for their selfless service.

Francis on two occasions during the trip gave the sisters public recognition and thanks. He also visited with one group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who have challenged the Obama administration's health care insurance mandate.

After speeches in Congress and at the United Nations, and deeply moving gestures visiting with the homeless, immigrants, prison inmates and schoolchildren, it was suggested to Francis that he had become something of a "star" in America.

Francis dismissed the idea, saying power is a passing thing, and that true power is to serve others.

"I must still go forward on this path of service because I feel like I haven't done all I can," he said.

And besides, he said, stars eventually fade away.

"Being a servant to the servant of God is beautiful. And it doesn't fade away."




“Pope Francis has defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops over the priest sex abuse scandal but says - for the first time - that those who covered up for abusers are guilty of wrongdoing. …. As for victims and relatives who cannot forgive abusive priests, Francis said he fully understood. "I pray for them," Francis said. "I do not judge someone who is not able to forgive." On his last day in the U.S., Francis on Sunday met with five abuse survivors of sexual abuse and issued a warning to bishops that they would be held accountable if they failed to protect their flocks. …. Francis has agreed to create a tribunal in the Vatican to prosecute these bishops for abuse of office and has accepted the resignations of three U.S. bishops who mishandled abuse cases. Francis defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops in Washington earlier in the week, saying he wanted to acknowledge that they had suffered too. Advocates for victims had denounced his praise as tone-deaf. "The words of comfort weren't to say 'Don't worry, it's nothing.' No, no, no. It was that 'It was so awful, and I imagine that you have wept so much,'" he said. …. He apologized to them that often their accusations weren't taken seriously and promised to hold bishops accountable. …. Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia was the first U.S. church official ever convicted in the handling of abuse complaints. But a state appeals court ruled Dec. 26 that the state's child-endangerment law in the late 1990s did not apply to supervisors like Lynn. …. "No provocations, no challenges," he said. "They were all well-behaved, normal. No insults, nothing bad." Conservative American commentators had been deeply critical of Francis' priorities prior to the trip, blasting his eco-focus as flawed and even criticizing his decision to streamline the church's annulment process by saying it amounted to a "Catholic divorce." .… After speeches in Congress and at the United Nations, and deeply moving gestures visiting with the homeless, immigrants, prison inmates and schoolchildren, it was suggested to Francis that he had become something of a "star" in America. Francis dismissed the idea, saying power is a passing thing, and that true power is to serve others.”

I would only say that a Vatican tribunal against sexually abusive priests and the bishops who protect them from prosecution is not the same thing as a secular trial under the law of their nations around the world. Prison should be the penalty, I believe. Yes, do repent of your sin, but rape is a crime of serious proportions. I do think, though, that the Pope’s visit was healing on the human level and will help the non-Catholic public to come closer to their position. Maybe the US legislature will cooperate more fully to make just laws for all citizens. That would be very nice.





LITTLE GREEN MEN, HERE WE COME!! – THREE ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-pluto-pictures-astonish-scientists-again/

New Pluto pictures astonish scientists -- again
By WILLIAM HARWOOD CBS NEWS
September 24, 2015

Photograph -- This near-full image of Pluto provides the best global view yet obtained, a mosaic of images beamed back from the New Horizon's probe during its July flyby of the dwarf planet. NASA
Photograph -- 092415pluto1.jpg
In a scene measuring 330 miles across, strange linear ridges can be seen on Pluto's surface, along with a deep canyon and isolated plains. NASA
Photograph -- 092415pluto2.jpg
A high-resolution closeup showing the smooth plain of Sputnik Planum butting up against more mountainous terrain. The dune-like ripples are not yet explained. NASA
Photograph -- 092415plutozoom.jpg
A zoomed-in portion of a new global mosaic showing the full range of Pluto's intriguing terrain, from dark mountainous, heavily cratered zones to the smooth, frozen plains of Sputnik Planum to strangely ridged features that defy easy explanation. NASA



Of the spectacular new images sent back of Pluto from NASA's New Horizons July 14 flyby of the icy dwarf planet, perhaps most stunning is a color mosaic made up of the high-resolution images transmitted back to date.

It shows a nearly full globe, allowing viewers to zoom in on features across the surface, from dark, cratered terrains and ice mountains to the smooth, frozen plains marking the now-familiar "heart" of Pluto, dubbed Sputnik Planum, to the strangely ridged terrain that so far defies explanation.

"It's a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles," William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead, said in a NASA release describing the ridged terrain.

"It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology," he said. "This'll really take time to figure out. Maybe it's some combination of internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto's faint sunlight."

A new high-resolution view reveals unusual linear ridges stretching across hundreds of miles, along with deep canyons and smooth plains blanketed by sharp shadows from the strange-looking ridges:

Another picture, the highest-resolution image yet returned by New Horizons, shows dune-like structures in what a NASA description said appears to be a "shrinking glacial ice lake" along with nearby "fractured, angular water ice mountains with sheer cliffs."

The near-global map, in cylindrical projection, is not yet complete, but it adds another powerful tool for scientists to begin understanding the structure and evolution of Pluto's intriguing surface. An equally stunning, zoomable nearly-full globe view shows the planet as it might appear to an astronaut on final approach.

"Pluto's surface colors were enhanced in this (cylindrical projection) view to reveal subtle details in a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges and deep reds," said John Spencer, a GGI deputy lead. "Many landforms have their own distinct colors, telling a wonderfully complex geological and climatological story that we have only just begun to decode."

Along with the new pictures, the New Horizons team provided a map showing the distribution of methane ice across the part of Pluto's surface that has been seen to date. Sputnik Planum, a bright, smooth plain, shows relatively high concentrations as do brighter crater rims and ridges. No methane shows up inside deep craters or across the dwarf planet's darker regions.

Scientists do not yet know whether the methane somehow favors the brighter areas or if the ice makes the regions bright to begin with.

"It's like the classic chicken-or-egg problem," Will Grundy, New Horizons surface composition team lead, said in the NASA release. "We're unsure why this is so, but the cool thing is that New Horizons has the ability to make exquisite compositional maps across the surface of Pluto, and that'll be crucial to resolving how enigmatic Pluto works."

Said Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator: "I wish Pluto's discoverer Clyde Tombaugh had lived to see this day."

New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14 and as of Thursday was 72 days and more than 53 million miles beyond the dwarf planet.

Because of the vast distances involved -- more than 3 billion miles -- the size of the spacecraft's antenna and the power of its transmitters, it will take more than a year and a half for New Horizons to beam back all of its stored imagery and data. The science team is releasing selected photos every week or so as new images come in.




My, oh my! NASA has really been busy. I don’t think humans can colonize this dwarf planet, but maybe some useful mineral deposits will be found there, and may robotic mining machines can be used on the uninhabitable surface of Pluto. Or the humans of the year 2180 can enter the bodies of their Avatars, then select some likely areas to melt the ice and mine the surface there. Those stone-like ridges sound like a good choice. They remind me of similar ridges that form on the bottom of the oceans here on earth, as a flow of lava emerges at the edges of the continental plates, to then harden into stone capable of pushing the continent farther and farther apart. They probably contain lots of minerals and ores for use by Star Fleet Command.





http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/nasa-reveals-mars-frozen-liquid-water/story?id=34100372

Mars: NASA Reveals Red Planet Contains Both Frozen, Liquid Water
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB
Sep 28, 2015
11:30 AM

Photograph -- Excitement Builds for NASA's Big Announcement

NASA revealed today liquid water has been found on the surface of Mars, upending the perception of Mars as a completely arid, desert-like planet. The finding also fuels speculation that life may have at one time thrived on Mars or could possibly even exist today.

A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience identified waterlogged molecules taken from readings from orbit.

“We now know Mars was once a planet very much like Earth with warm salty seas and fresh water lakes,” Jim Green, planetary science director at NASA, said at a news conference. “But something has happened to Mars, it lost its water.”

Dark, 100-meter-long streaks flowing downhill on Mars are believed to have been formed by contemporary flowing water, according to NASA. The findings come from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

While today’s discovery is huge, it is small compared to the rivers, lakes and vast oceans that are believed to have flowed on Mars billions of years ago.

The discovery of water could also be a boon for a future manned mission to Mars since it would help astronauts lighten their load traveling to the Red Planet. NASA is hosting a question and answer session today at 11:30 a.m. ET to provide more details about the findings and what they mean. ABC News will be live streaming the news conference here.

Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here.


ABC US News | World News Other Stories --

NASA Reveals What Actually Happens in a Martian Dust Storm
NASA Probes How Mars Became the Red Planet
Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Mysterious 'Floating Spoon' on the Red Planet





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mars-secret-revealed-first-unambiguous-signs-of-water/

Mars secret revealed: First "unambiguous" signs of water
By WILLIAM HARWOOD CBS NEWS
September 28, 2015

Photograph -- nasa-mars-15-195perspective2.jpg
These dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. The blue color seen upslope of the dark streaks are thought not to be related to their formation, but instead are from the presence of the mineral pyroxene. NASA/JPL/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA


Researchers using data from a NASA satellite orbiting Mars said Monday they have found clear evidence of intermittent flows of salty water on the red planet, the first "unambiguous" signs of liquid water on the frigid world and a possible indicator of microbe-friendly environments below the surface.

"Mars is not the dry, arid planet we thought of in the past," Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science, told reporters. "Under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars."

The apparent flows were first noticed in 2010 by Lujendra Ojha, then an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, studying photographs taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dark streaks were apparent in the sun-facing walls of steep craters near the equator during the warmer summer months.

The streaks appeared to brighten and darken over the martian year, fading away during the winter and showing back up in warmer weather when the temperature climbed back above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Multiple sites later were identified, in craters, cliff faces and mountainsides.

Scientists came up with a variety of explanations for the branching channel-like streaks, arguing they could have been caused by some sort of surface phenomenon involving water, dust slides or other non-liquid phenomena. The water hypothesis appeared to be a stretch given the low pressure of the martian atmosphere and constant, below-freezing temperatures.

But spectroscopic data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed telltale signatures of hydrated salts, known as perchlorates, around numerous streaks known as "recurring slope lineae," or RSLs.

The hydrated minerals are consistent with magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. Found on Earth in desert environments, perchlorates have been shown in the laboratory to keep liquids from freezing at temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Mars, the hydrated salts "would lower the freezing point of a liquid brine, just as salt on roads here on Earth causes ice and snow to melt more rapidly," NASA said in a statement.

Researchers said a sub-surface flow of briny water could allow enough liquid to "wick" its way to the surface to explain the recurring slope lineae. Another mechanism could be the absorption of water vapor from the thin martian atmosphere by the perchlorates, which then would dissolve away leaving a water solution behind.

"Regardless, the presence of hydrated salts in these flows means that these features are formed contemporary with liquid water," said Ojha, now studying for his doctorate at the Georgia Institute of Technology and lead author of a paper published Monday by Nature Geoscience.

How much water? Alfred McEwen, the principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment -- HiRISE -- aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, said calculations based on the observed streaks indicate the global presence of more than 25 million gallons of liquid water.

That "sounds like a lot if it's all in one place, but that's dispersed over very wide areas," he said. "So what we're dealing with is thin layers of wet soil, not standing water."

Data from a variety of spacecraft have shown that Mars once hosted a warmer, wetter environment with a thicker atmosphere, flowing rivers and large bodies of water on the surface.

While Mars was once habitable for life as it's known on Earth -- water, organic compounds and energy from sunlight were present -- it's not clear how long those conditions persisted or whether life ever had a chance to evolve. Mars today appears to be a cold, desert world.

But the discovery that liquid water still flows on the red planet, even intermittently, bolsters the odds that microbial life of some sort could, in theory, still exist on Mars.

"Water is an essential ingredient for life," said Mary Beth Wilhelm, a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Our results may point to more habitable conditions on the near surface of Mars than previously thought."

092815rsl2.jpg
Another view of "recurring slope lineae," or RSLs, flowing out of a mountainside on Mars. NASA
But she added that it's far from clear whether Earth-like microbes could exist in the martian environment.

"To assess habitablity, we would first need to determine how cold and how concentrated the brine is," she said.

But senior NASA managers were less circumspect.

"Everywhere we go where there's liquid water, whether its deep in the Earth or in the arid regins, we find life," Green said. "We haven't been able to answer the question 'does life exist beyond Earth?' But following the water is a critical element of that. We now have great opportunities to be in the right locations on Mars to thoroughly investigate that."

McEwen said the discovery only strengthened his view that the probability of life on Mars is high.

"There's certainly water somewhere in the crust of Mars, and Mars has received meteorites from Earth, it's been contaminated by Earth," he said. "We know that microbes can survive that trip. So it's very likely, I think, there is life somewhere in the crust of Mars, microbes. But where is it? How accessible is it? Now, maybe, there's something we can find close to the surface. That's what's exciting."




“How much water? Alfred McEwen, the principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment -- HiRISE -- aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, said calculations based on the observed streaks indicate the global presence of more than 25 million gallons of liquid water. …. But spectroscopic data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed telltale signatures of hydrated salts, known as perchlorates, around numerous streaks known as "recurring slope lineae," or RSLs. The hydrated minerals are consistent with magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. Found on Earth in desert environments, perchlorates have been shown in the laboratory to keep liquids from freezing at temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.”

I wonder how well advanced our desalination abilities will be in 2025. We will need them. Salt water can certainly support life forms of many kinds, however, and since I believe that life evolved on earth from natural conditions, I think it very likely has done so on Mars as well. I always thought that Mars might be the one other planet in our solar system to support life, largely because of the size, rocky makeup of the surface and similar distances from the sun.

Remember the discredited story of astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli about “canals” on Mars which change color seasonally? It was speculated that the changes were due to the plants growing around or in the canals. See the Wikipedia article below. I wonder if an update to this article on the Martian canali will come out now?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canal

Martian canal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were canals on Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° N. to 60° S. Lat. on the planet Mars. They were first described by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli during the opposition of 1877, and confirmed by later observers. Schiaparelli called these canali, which was translated into English as "canals". The Irish astronomer Charles E. Burton made some of the earliest drawings of straight-line features on Mars, although his drawings did not match Schiaparelli's. By the early 20th century, improved astronomical observations revealed the "canals" to be an optical illusion, and modern high resolution mapping of the Martian surface by spacecraft shows no such features.

Controversy[edit]

Mars as seen through 6 inch (15 cm) aperture reflecting telescope, as Schiaparelli may have seen it.
Some people went so far as to propose the idea that the canals were irrigation canals built by a supposed intelligent civilization on Mars. Percival Lowell was a strong proponent of this view, pushing the idea much further than Schiaparelli, who for his part considered much of the detail on Lowell's drawings to be imaginary. Some observers drew maps in which dozens if not hundreds of canals were shown with an elaborate nomenclature for all of them. Some observers saw a phenomenon they called "gemination", or doubling - two parallel canals.

Other observers disputed the notion of canals. The observer E. E. Barnard did not see them. In 1903, Joseph Edward Evans and Edward Maunder conducted visual experiments using schoolboy volunteers that demonstrated how the canals could arise as an optical illusion.[1] This is because when a poor-quality telescope views many point-like features (e.g. sunspots or craters) they appear to join up to form lines.[2] In 1907 the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace published the book Is Mars Habitable? that severely criticized Lowell's claims. Wallace's analysis showed that the surface of Mars was almost certainly much colder than Lowell had estimated, and that the atmospheric pressure was too low for liquid water to exist on the surface; and he pointed out that several recent efforts to find evidence of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere with spectroscopic analysis had failed. He concluded that complex life was impossible, let alone the planet-girding irrigation system claimed by Lowell.[3] The influential observer Eugène Antoniadi used the 83-cm (32.6 inch) aperture telescope at Meudon Observatory at the 1909 opposition of Mars and saw no canals, the outstanding photos of Mars taken at the new Baillaud dome at the Pic du Midi observatory also brought formal discredit to the Martian Canals theory in 1909,[4] and the notion of canals began to fall out of favor. Around this time spectroscopic analysis also began to show that no water was present in the Martian atmosphere.[2]

Mars surface by Mariner 4 in 1965

The arrival of the United States' Mariner 4 by NASA in 1965, which took pictures revealing impact craters and a generally barren landscape, was the final nail in the coffin of the idea that Mars could be inhabited by higher forms of life. A surface atmospheric pressure of 4.1 to 7.0 millibars (410 to 700 pascals) and daytime temperatures of −100 degrees Celsius were estimated. No magnetic field[5][6] or Martian radiation belts[7] were detected.

William Kenneth Hartmann, a Mars imaging scientist from the 1960s to the 2000s, explains the "canals" as streaks of dust caused by wind on the leeward side of mountains and craters.[8]

The Italian word canale (plural canali) can mean "canals" (including artificial canals or ducts) or "channels" or "gullies".[9] The first person to use the word canale in connection with Mars was Angelo Secchi in 1858, although he did not see any straight lines and applied the term to large features —for example, he used the name "Atlantic Canale" for what later came to be called Syrtis Major Planum.

It is not necessarily odd that the idea of Martian canals was so readily accepted by many. At this time in the late 19th century, astronomical observations were made without photography. Astronomers had to stare for hours through their telescopes, waiting for a moment of still air when the image was clear, and then draw a picture of what they had seen. They saw some lighter or darker albedo features (for instance Syrtis Major) and believed that they were seeing oceans and continents. They also believed that Mars had a relatively substantial atmosphere. They knew that the rotation period of Mars (the length of its day) was almost the same as Earth's, and they knew that Mars' axial tilt was also almost the same as Earth's, which meant it had seasons in the astronomical and meteorological sense. They could also see Mars' polar ice caps shrinking and growing with these changing seasons. It was only when they interpreted changes in surface features as being due to the seasonal growth of plants that life was hypothesized by them (in fact, Martian dust storms are responsible for some of this). By the late 1920s, however, it was known that Mars was very dry and had a very low atmospheric pressure.