New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1841-12-22

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When ur examine tn. Sun ,hrouyh a Telescope
We 's! a. '.at, s:'.n >.,,srr -.l8..-,. vit,.n
ne ,&..,-..rd 10 -. .,taai-, ..!-.s.i,,!e.
-e7ylc arawias ct ti,e >aa va> ~ cs.,il,;.es =
iae>e sre able great anil IL. M variations.
Ss;net'm,> To- Sui 1, >eca ~i,hcu; spots. and az
81 her iscs ru>'ocr j, small thcy enlarge and 81.
mHi'l, ana seldom l4st rrarc th-n ,ixty or seventy
/ isy>, Rad usually not 10 long. These sp.;s are
discovered chiefly aloa the horizontal diameter OF
The Saa, and uever more than thirty degrees abov.
- below II. 1t they be watched from day TO iay,
they VIII be seen 10 shift their positions, d appear
/ ing side and re-appearing on the other
Thus we know that the Sun revolves on its axis,
and 1t. time Is knowi to be twenty-five and half
otoM DAYS.
a careful examination of these SPOTS shows their
variable character, We shall ind that they d.
riinish in magnitude until. after tine. they en-
trely disappear; Others come IN ther places and
mus they come ard go auguen;ins and .minish'
ing with more or les gap!ilry A. we know the
diameter OF the Sun, we csn easily calculate the
sse of the spots; and 1t ia. be found ,ha, many
OF them cover ssrtace four i've tunes great
a. the whole surface Of tue Earth. Let me OBJ
serve here that tness spots easily seen by ordi-
nary telescopes; all tina necessary 10 guard the
sight Is TO interpose between the eve and eyeglsss
a coored or smoked glass.
nc number ct spots to be seen varie; greatly at
different times, the surface of the sun being some
times largely ID. The most remasksb'e case
record is that which commenced 4 d $50.
when it is recorded that for fourteen months the
light OF the Sun greatly es,ened, a. l. cause
perpetual twilight, By iesson OF the spots on its
surface. In GO, it i recorded that the Snn was
half covered. In l779 and again in 1875, i'm
en- AgD
we're discovered. On the 2Sth OF August 1906 a
remarkable appearance was noticed: len spot,
we're seen 10 ccalesce and form onc enormous
black spot on the Suns surface Ii IS found hat
N disappearing, the edges OF the spots approach
their centre at the rate of about thousand miles
Il day.
Now the questions of mos, interest connected
with this ,ublect are. what is the ply seal cons.
tuition OF the SIN, and what he set, Sc
seral suppositons have been advanced. LAPLAcE
supposed that the surface OF the Sun is covered
with volcanoes, and that the solar light Is nothing
sut the splendor OF these volcanic fires thrown To
nc surface, and that the spots are CrSterS. Sr
WILLIAM HERscHELL a1varced theory the
.u!t OF more careful study, and based more upon
nets than speculation, which. moreover. i now
generally received Her-chell supposed the Sun
be an opaque non-Iuminous globe, giving OF it.
nosphcre of flame which floats upon it "a the
ocean or air upon the Earth. II we suppose our
atmosphere to be flaming fire surrounding the
Earth. it will represent what Herschell supposed
he atmosphere OF the Sun 10 be. He accounts tor
ne spots by supposing them Ia be the naked ground
If the Sun, through openings or caNite' in
he Amos phere. having side. sloping downwar!s.
Their disappearance. he believed, was caused by
he flowing in upon them of the fiery ocean 10y
which they were surrounded. Accurate observa-
ton has confirmed these coniccure4.
Ii we suppose the spots to be holowS and .he
,dse shelving surface, when 1t comes To the edge
II the SUM- BY reason of It's convex'y, the eye Is
lirected along the surface that the penumbra on
he inner edge will in artistcal language b" fore
>hortened This ia the fact as may b. determined
~ observation. When it comes to the edge it will
disappear But we have still more decisive proof
hat these are hollows When they come to the
dye OF the Sun they seen sideways, oil course,
rs the projection of light conceals the bottou.---
They must then disappear as is actually the case
The assertion Of crschell then, that theyn cav
tics acquires the character of demonstration.
1t Is not necessary to assume, although these
pots appear black when seen through Telescope
that they are really non-luminous. The Eye judges
" contrast. If we behold very lumInoss Object
and near it another considerably less brilliant, the
after may appear almost Opaque IN cohPhi'soh
There - light which has bee called the oxy-hydro
zen light, composed of ball of quicksilver excited
flame by the oxygen and hydrogen gases. This
,a when heated much As it il possible tor ma
tIral bodies be, becomes luminous that tn eye
anno tear TO look upon il. SJch lights ARE often
ised as signals in great surveys and have known
tease in which one of them the top OF noun
ain 10 miles distant was distinctly visible although
ne mountain enveoped in mist Now mark
hi this ball of ire-so very luminous--has been
acid between the Eye and the Sun so as to be seen
projected on the Suns disc and when seen II
appeared intensely 6iack. Not that there WINS
ny change in its absolute splendor but the Eye
contrasting it with The greater spIendor OF the
sun, the rrtna became insensible to that which
,cfure it could not behhld without pain. This may
.onyince u that these Solar Spots which appear
lark to Us may in reality be as bright as this oxy
hydrogen ighf.
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