Eugène Michel Antoniadi (1870–1944) created some of the most detailed maps of Mars before the space age. Many features are still known by the names he suggested.
The Grand Lunette refractor (83cm, 32″) at Meudon Observatory came into use in 1891. Antoniadi used it to observe Mars in great detail at the favorable opposition of 1909. He countered Lowell’s claims with well-thought out observations, including:
“There was nothing geometrical in all of this, nothing artificial, the whole appearance having overwhelmingly natural about it.”
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