Labels: text | screenshot | electronics OCR: FIRST OBSERVATIONS THE CANALS OF MARS OBSERVATIONS OF SPACE PROBES J.D. Cassini Meanwhile, French philosopher Bernard Fontenelle became fascinated with the Red Planet. In his very popular dialogues "Entretiens sur la Pluralite des Mondes" (1686, published in English as "Plurality of Worlds," 1688) he supposed that men might even one day travel to Mars. No further significant progress was made until the early 19th century. Then, thanks to the optical studies of Joseph von Fraunhofer, telescopes were equipped with much more Ch. Huygens accurate lenses. The once-blurred spots on Mars could now be seen clearly as geological features. So the first systematic map of the Red Planet was drawn up in Berlin in 1830, by Wilhelm Beer and Johann H. von Madler using a 10.8-centimeter telescope, hardly more powerful than an amateur skywatcher's telescope today. MARS BETAT
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