The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-11-18
The Secret or the Aurora
BOreaiiS.

The true nature Of the aurora boreali:
mas long been a perplexi1g mystery t,
! men OF science. sCarefuls observation an,
comparison IT accompanying phenomeni
4 have shown that solar Disturbances, man
iieatGd by the appearance of spuis of I'm
. usual plumbers AMI d laellsi u are follow
4 ed r accompanied by intense maguetit
t Oh, AFT ctsng fie wllnle electric system
~ the earth, and IN rked by brilliant dis
| plays of aurorai STEAMERS on the nigh
Succeeding rue solar Disturbance. Tnle
| showed That a relation exists t,et wcen tns
surors, terrestrial magnetism and the sun,
put II left tue precise wsy in ~ hich tn,
sun excited the electric, luminosity OF the
aurora as much In doubt us ever. A
what elevation above the earth the auro-
raj lights exists, and whether within or
beyond the regions Of oor atmosphere,
was also unknown, and the most eminent
men o science We're at variance rs to the
possibility OF ascertaining the actual dis
lance of the silently shifting steamers Of
light in the northern sky
Spectroscopic analysis THAT has 80 won
derfuIly expanded the limits Of scientific
resesr IL, was some time since applied to
the light OF an aurora wish unlOokedlor
results. Instead ei a art &C. lor. d band
of light, which ght have been expected,
showing, that the aurora was due to solid
particles excited to l,lm mostly by electric
action, 1t gave tue single line sof llghl
characteristic Of lneatdesc9nt gas. But
tue line pr duced by each gas has its own
proper posi- ion inStiie spectrum, and sth,,
line OF the aurora does not correspond
with that Of any gas with which chemists
are acquainted. Repeared observations by
several SIX iliui -experlmenters give always
the same result They can pronounce
only that the aurora is Tue to the mean
d,.scence Of gus different from any
known to science.
But another discovery has been made
which, from its Co neciion with the for
mer, is OF great lnterasr. The ztdlacal
light, that taint CLEAN in the sky which
has hitherto been supposed to be due to
tue hight reflected from a vast number of
minute bodies travelling round the sun
within the orbit of the earth, has been hi
object OF great Interest. to astronomers.
1t has, until recently, never been subject
ed to spcctroscopic analysis, because its
hight is so faint that it was thought its
spectrum could hardly be made visible.
1t Was presumed, howeyer, that II a de-
finite spectrum could be obtained, it w6uld
present, as the accepted theory of. its orr
gin required, Il feeble likeness of that of
the sun. A German scientist has at last
succeeded IN observing the spectrum o
the zod acal light, and instead Of being,
as expected, faint copy of the Ordinary
prismatic spectrum, it presented only "a
single line, and that Identical with the
spectrum of the aurora. This proves con-
clusiyely that the previously received
theories of the nature nf the zodiacal light
were erroneous, and that it and the auro-
IA are due TO the same electric influences
Operating in The same medium A@ ~
1t is nov bell, we'd by astronomers that
the same methods Of inquiry viii show,
when an opportunity occurs tor making
the tet, that the tails of comets are
of the same nature with the aurora and
zodiacal light; If SO, three of the most
mysterious phenomena of the heavens
wi be traced to a common origin and
their nature partially explained. s@a9e'