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R.J. McKim (RAS and BAA (UK))
The author reviews historical observations of Martian dust storms from the earliest telescopic records up to the present day (see R.J.McKim, Telescopic Martian Dust Storms: A Narrative and Catalogue, Memoirs of the British Astronomical Association, volume 44, 1999 (166 pp)).
The earliest record begins with Maraldi in 1704. The term ``yellow cloud" was coined by Burton (1879). The first event which attracted much attention was the regional dust storm of 1894 October-November. The first planet-encircling event was that of 1909. The daily evolution of dust storms began to be studied in 1911; photography would not help until 1922. Other milestones in our understanding of the phenomenon are illustrated and explained.
The telescopic literature is littered with errors of fact and interpretation, and the author describes some of the pitfalls and successes in the analysis of old telescopic records.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.