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384 Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries
A distinguished American astronomer, Percival Lowell, decided to dedicate
his life to studying Mars. In 1894, he built the Flagstaff Observatory
in Arizona, which housed a 24-inch refracting telescope. By 1915, he and
his staff had charted nearly 700 canals—a precise network of large-scale
construction on Mars that channeled water from the polar ice caps. They
were straight, narrow, sometimes parallel, and at numerous locations the
canals intersected geometrically. These latter areas were noted to become
seasonally dark, and Lowell named them oases, indicating that vegetation
and crop growing were abundant. He naturally concluded that there would
be attendant cities for the Martian people at these oases.
Lowell understood that the actual waterways could not be seen from
Earth, if it were not for the broad areas of seasonal growth lining both
sides. It was the combination of both factors that made it possible to see
the network of geometric lines on Mars' surface with clarity. Some of the
channels were approximately 3000 miles long, and from 15 to 25 miles
wide. 1 In 1915 Lowell stated to the scientific world, "Mars is inhabited,
and we have absolute proof." He proclaimed that the Martian civilization
had an intricate and highly advanced irrigation system that could be seen
and photographed through Earth-based telescopes. A few pictures had
been taken as early as 1907. Lowell's position was so revolutionary to the
orthodox views of the scientific establishment, that it received harsh contempt
from many, and went virtually ignored by others.
Once every twenty-six months, Earth and Mars are at their closest distance
from each other in their orbits around the sun, and in astronomy this
is called being in opposition. But because the orbits are elliptical, the most
favorable opposition occurs only once every fifteen to seventeen years,
and at this time the two planets are at their closest, about 35 million miles
distant. To view the extensive canals and markings, an astronomer had to
have unlimited patience and determination, and more importantly, an open
mind. Like the establishment scientists today, Lowell's contemporaries
often lacked such traits. Studying the distant features on Mars through the
telescope was difficult and tricky, and could only be done at the large
observatories when the local atmospheric conditions and other visibility
factors were exceptionally coordinated. But even during the brief periods
of favorable opposition, the disk-like image showed a blurring of detail
almost continuously, due to the ever-present atmospheric turbulence
around both the Earth and Mars.
Our atmosphere is constantly in molecular motion due to thermal activity.
To the naked eye, the sky might seem so clear and calm, that a person
would assume there is perfect seeing conditions. For looking at stars and
nebulae, that would be true, but it's not the same when we view our neighboring
planets with a large telescope. Through the high power magnifica-