http://www.bookrags.com/William_Herschel has a pretty good brief on the great astronomer, William Herschel. Notice that his life overlaps the formative years of the early Mormon leadership In his time Herschel was the "authority" on just about anything having to do with the Moon, and he stated he'd found signs of life there.
Educated men, or those who wished to appear to be educated, definitely quoted Herschel for most of the 1800s.
Ultimately better science drove out bad science but as late as the early 20th century you found folks believing that something like Barsoon actually existed on Mars.
It's noteworthy that even President Thomas Jefferson didn't know about the germ theory of disease ~ and he might well have referenced Herschel's stuff himself.
One would believe later Mormon prophets have "clarified" the matter.
I'm certainly not going to check it and doubt if Romney has made any statements along that line.
that is not the point
Mormon leaders claimed it came from God to have polygamy forever, that God was once a man, that Jesus and Satan and ME and YOU are literally related, and that men lived on the monn and dressed like quakers
it is a kooky religion