![]() ![]() All these astronomers had the benefit of the excellent seeing conditions at the Pic Du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees.Īny long-time Mars fans out there will remember when the only aspect of Mars that could be seen and mapped through telescopes was how its albedo, or surface brightness, varied. The latter's 1956 map was the best glimpse of Mars ever made by someone compiling the view through a telescope. That, and the Atlas of The Planets by Vincent De Callatay and Andouin Dollfus, which was a nice early space-age summary, made me aware of some of the great Mars observers like Antoniadi, and especially the great French observers Lyot, Dollfus, and the Greco-French observer Jean-Henri Focas. ![]() In November 1968, I became aware of more of the heritage of Earth-based mapping of Mars through the Larousse Encyclopedia of Astronomy by Lucien Rudaux and Gerard de Vaucouleurs. Geological Survey Branch of Astrogeologic Studies as a cartographic aide. The first collection of maps and images of Mars I had seen were those published in 1960 in The Exploration Of Mars by Willy Ley, Wernher Von Braun and Chesley Bonestell. Here is the story of that globe and its historical context. It is a human-produced version of the kind of thing we now do with computer assistance. I just heard it was found among the belongings of Jack McCauley, a recently deceased planetary geologist who was a mentor of mine there. ![]()
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