The Canals of Mars

[Sepka]

http://io9.com/5486291/the-real-canals- ... ranean-ice

The authors make an interesting comparison between the wandering seams of underground ice being mapped on Mars, and the 'canals' that Victorian astronomers mapped.

[Avalon]

Would be worth seeing the current findings of underground ice correctly projected and laid over the 19th century maps, to see what sort of congruence there is.

But the discussion would have to be somewhere other than at the superficial and juvenile io9 site.

[Sepka]

Agreed. They had pictures, though, and I was in a hurry. If I get some free time, I may do map overlays. It always fascinated me that 19th and early 20th century observers claimed to see the canals so clearly, yet modern observers cannot. Schiaparelli, Lowell, et alia also claimed to see seasonal variations in the canals. Something interesting is going on there.