The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-01

riinh0W-cu!orrd Sirt'li; ". light. such as would
imvc appeared il the aurora were due 10 The
existence ot p!itil.,iS excited la luminosity
by electric aci;ui, - siaIr line of colorcd light
apr arcti. Til, Indicated tia, the lieh, is due
tD The tncIuilr-crncr NJ ,Gnlc Ias thrG;,mh
which III" electric d'c,:a -. in upper air tak"S
pnrr. li,li this WAS foi the circumstance
which attracted SURPRISE. Father. This was tp
have been looked FOR. y wAS The position al
the line which ;SiuniSiici nul physicists. IL
the "as had been one which chemists are ac-
rndnlcd With. the iirich .'.(c wo''li ll:,Nc Ou
capped lie position pro per to that gas. and
wu;i III once li;lvc indiCc,cil is uat,irr. l,;i;
there is nn known cc:nc ,ii;,i lhc spectrum
has Il bright line where ihS one appeared.
Vhr observation has hccn Repeated over and
over a,:'in. by An-:S,ron. 'iy clio S:ruvc. ami
recently 10y Mr.. piunnrf. llways with the
same rrsn!w We cannot tel what the sub
Stancc may br To whose "Reminiscences or III
nl!nOSi;y the aurora owes i!i hrilliIHcy.
But now u most remarkable discovery has
boon effected. An"5lrom nls ioun,i that the
mysterious line nj the a..rn'al spectrum exists
IN HE spectrum of anoilcr object, which has,
been thuli@hl lo hr wiiullN ,.iiICrcnt in rhir:c-
Ter. Ever since ills discovery by C;,ssini. the
zodi:iral light iias iic"n aR eUi oG interest To
astronomers. Gradually i:rnry iad been
formed respecting il. whi';h lia,i been sane
Toned hy the authority a. Stck mri. az Hum
ln'9t ana Sir john llrrsci!,!. [: S;lS icid Ih;..
Ibis appearance is due 10 tl.rl light reflected
from Il multitude al minr = cusInic;ll hudir;
travelling around The 'ivh .:.",l!ir Tho orbit of
O,lf earth.
This thcury hail never b',l tested hy spec
trOscopic analysis. Indeed the Zudi;::;l l!..ht
shines 81 lainliy thai, il MAS ;n;iiy hoped That
its spectrum cUiilh br rcnd,gr! visible But il
was confidently aniiuirutc,. ;nit il Tic zotll;lca
light ever were thus analy?.I, is spectrum
woud he that which ths t'.tnry required
that is. very faint reproduction of tie com
mon Solar sPccrlr..
Now, Il, length. we !icar ircM Angsrom thnt
the spectrum III the xoa,s,! light has been
observed. and instead nj DtiEg, AZ had been
expected y aint Gainlnw-Cu!Drcd streak, it
presents but u single line. That line is the
same that We seq in The SliccLr,'in OF the arru-
RI. In other words, the l"h, II the Zotliacal
glean and that OF the aurorai sircamers are
due to tile same sort OF clcc.rti discharge tax
ing place in the same medium.
Without prctcndin" To iMlhs" interpret this
startling result, we may indicate The promise
IL affords Of explaining u number OF pllcnonl-
cna which have long secmca most pcrplcxing.
When once We recognise the fact that electric
action is effective In producing any Of the &C.
lcstial lights, we have q resource availa-
bic to remove many, difficulties. Asirono-
ample, could exhibit the spectrum of the
incandcsccnt va9or OF carbou-that Is, u
spectrum indicative Of the most intense heat.
when, ~ In the case of Winncck's comet
(whusc spectrum was of this naturc,) they
were farther from the sun than the earth Is.
The action of the sun in exciting electrical dis
charges would he quite sufficient To account
for 1his and similar phenomena. Again. il
has bccn long Recognized that the pcciilari-
ties of comets lals seem only eNplicablc as
due % electrical action; but astronomers were.
unwilling 10 adopt such theuTy without some
positive evidence in Its favor. We now have
such evidences; and IL Is most prpbahlc that
the first long-tailed comet which is submitted
to spectr"scopic analysis vii, establish The
view which Euler put forth moro than laifn
century ago, that comets tails i,uvc some
thing in common with the aurora and the
Zotllacal light. Ii would indeed l,s strange II
three of The most mysterious phcT omena with
which men Of science are acquai tied should
find their explanation simultanco; aly.