Flashes of light were frequently seen on Mars and have been called Transient Martian Phenomena, similar to Transient Lunar Phenomena. Some astronomers interpreted it as signals; others thought them to be clouds drifting across the surface.
One particular place where the flashes of light occurred is the lcarium Mare. Percival Lowell speaking at the American Philosophical Society meeting in December 1901, declared that the more than 400 light flashes seen in the Mare were clouds reflecting light. He believed lcarium Mare was a great tract of vegetation forming layers of clouds.
After Percival Lowell died other scientists declared that there was no life on Mars, nor on any of the other planets in our solar system. This did nothing, however, to quell the hysteria when Orson Wells broadcast his Halloween hoax of H.G. Wells’ “War Of The Worlds,” simulating an invasion by Martians.
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