Abstract
THE work at the Lowell Observatory has by no means been restricted to the planet Mars, as may have been popularly supposed. Prof. Lowell provided the observatory with an equipment of the highest class for spectroscopic investigations of the heavenly bodies, and, with the capable cooperation of Dr. Slipher, some important contributions to the advancement of astrophysics have been made. Besides taking part in the general study of the radial velocities of stars, several new and difficult investigations of great interest were undertaken. One of the first problems attacked —in 1903—was that of the rotation of Venus, and although the actual period could not be assigned, the evidence was decidedly in favour of a period much greater than twenty-four hours. More recently the first authentic value of the rotation period of Uranus was determined by Lowell and Slipher, the spectra in this case indicating rotation in loh. 50m., in a direction contrary to that of the planets nearer the sun. Much attention was at one time given to the search for evidence of absorption due to water vapour in the atmosphere of Mars, first by Doppler effects due to relative motion of the earth and planet, and alternatively by observations of the relative intensities of the atmospheric bands in Mars and the moon. Al-thoug-h measurements of the plates suggested slight displacements, tending to prove the existence of a Martian atmosphere, Lowell frankly confessed that he could place no reliance on this result. On the other hand, Mr. Very's discussion of the intensities of the bands decided in favour of a Martian atmosphere containing water vapour, but this conclusion was not accepted by Campbell.
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FOWLER, A. Prof. Percival Lowell's Contributions to Astronomical Spectroscopy . Nature 98, 231–232 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/098231b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/098231b0