From: Alex Michael Bonnici (albonnici_at_vol.net.mt)
Date: Sun Nov 16 2003 - 02:01:59 PST
Dear Larry and the SETI public gang,
Thank you for this bit of
information and what a coincidence. During the week of
November 17th, 2003 I will be conducting an experiment similar to
E. Walter Maunder's famous "School Boys" experiment that
showed that the Martian Canals seen by Lowell and his
contemporaries was an optical illusion. I will be conducting this
experiment with a group of some 250 students of ages 10 and 11
years old. This experiment will be part of a series of activities my
school will be organizing for science and technology week here in
Malta. This is the second time I will be conducting this
experiment since 1999. The first time I conducted this experiment
was while I was still teaching in the United States. The first time
I managed to obtain some 5 drawings that showed features
similar to the one drawn by Lowell from a group of 68 students
ages 17 -18.
In an earlier version of the experiment I used a black and white
photo some 1 inch in diameter of Mars taken in the 19th century
on a black background. In this version I will have one group of
students using a colorized version of the same photo tinted red.
I will send you further updates within the week.
Alex Michael Bonnici
LARRY KLAES wrote:
> http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031112.html
>
> Mars Then and Now
>
> Credit & Copyright: Tom Ruen, Eugene Antoniadi, Lowell Hess, Roy A.
> Gallant, HST, NASA
>
> Explanation: Does Mars have canals? A hot debate topic of the late
> 1800s, several prominent astronomers including Percival Lowell not
> only claimed to see an extensive system of long straight canals on
> Mars, but used them to indicate that intelligent life exists there.
> The relatively close opposition of 1894 was used to make drawings like
> the one digitally re-scaled on the above left. The above map was
> originally prepared by Eugene Antoniadi and redrawn by Lowell Hess for
> the book Exploring Mars, by Roy A. Gallant. In more modern times, the
> latest Mars opposition has allowed the Hubble Space Telescope to
> capture a picture of similar orientation. Comparison of the two images
> shows that large features were impressively recorded, but that an
> extensive system of long and straight canals just does not exist.
> Satellites orbiting Mars have now shown conclusively that the red
> planet does indeed have surface features similar to canals, but that
> these are usually smaller, curved, and less extensive than that
> previously claimed. Real canyon systems like Noctis Labyrinthus are
> most likely cracks caused by surface stress.
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Sun Nov 16 2003 - 02:26:23 PST