The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-14
WONDERS OF THB SUN.
TIA Immense Volume and Countless
Miles Of Flame-Thc Gelar Forces In
Motion.
fErom the london spectator. ]

hand new marvels are being brought TO light
Al one time Mr.. Lockyer surprises us Dy OK
| bibitinn the amazing TeloCites with which tn'
solar storms rage across the blazing surface
| our luminary. At another tho energetc as
| tronomer who preslde5 over tne Roman OD
| seryatory tells us of water within tho nerct
l tumult of the solar spots. The Kew observer:
| track the strange influences OF the planets OF
| the solar atmosphere, watching not only tne
great tide Of spots which sweeps In tho ten
| wear period over the solar storm-zoneS, anl
| then leaves our sum clear rom spect
| or stain, but also tho ripples or spot
formation which came In shorter periods, ane
seem inextrlcably blended to ordinary obser
vers with the great periodic: disturbances
Lastly, Lockyer, Huggins, Zollner and SEQ
| chi describe the magic changes OF form wh1ef
pass over tongues OF flame, projecting tnous
| and OF miles from the solar surface. we nave
i before us as we write series OF coloreo pro
minence-plctures taken by DR.. Zolner, the
eminent photometriclan. 1t Is impossible te
| Contemplate these strange figures without
| sense OF magnincence OF the problem which
| the sun presents to astronomers. Here are
vast entlties-hames, II we will, but flames
| unlike all those with which We are familiar
| And these vast tongues OF fire assume forms
which speak to us at once OF the action ol
forces OF the utmost violence and intensity
The very aspect Of these objects at once
81.
of place and OF figure to which the
spots are subjected that ore most sig-
| niiicant on this point. Here Is
vast cone-shaped flame, with q mushroom
head Of enormous proportions, the whole OBJ
icct standing $4,000 or 1900 miles from the
suns surface. In the cone figure we SEQ the
uprush of lately imprisoned gasses, In the out
spreading head the sudden dimlnution OF pres
sure as these gasses reach the rarcr upper
D,,f t,,-n frnr M N q
series of six pictures placed beside II, and we
sec the solar torces In action, First, there ID
a vast fame, some eighteen thousand miles
hign, bowed towards the right, as though
some fierce wind were blowing upon 1t. II
extends In this direction some four or i've
thousand miles. The next picture represents
the same object ten minutes later. Tho figure
of the prominence has wholly changed. Ii Is
now globe-shaped mass, standing on mar
now stalk of light above a row Of
fame hillocks. 1t is bowed toward the left,
80 that In those short minutes the whole
mass of the fame has swept thousands OF
miles away from its former position. Only
two minutes later, and again q complete
change Of appearance. The stalk and flame
hillocks have vanished, and the globc-shaped
mass has become elongated. Three minutes
later, the shape OF the prominence has altered
80 completely, that one can hardly recognize
it tor the same. The stalk Is again visible, but
tho upper mass IL bowed down on the right
so that the whole figure resembles gigantic
A. without the cross.bar, and with the down.
stroke abnormay thick. This great A is
some twenty thousand miles In height, and the
whole mass Of our earth might be bowled be-
tweenits legs without touching them Four
minutes pass, and again the figure has changed.
The 1iane-hillocks rcappear, the down-stroke
OF the A begins 10 raise itself from the suns
surface. Lastly, after yet another interval Of
four minutes, the figure OF the prominence has
lost all resemblance to on A, and may now be
likened to a camers head looking towards the
right The whole series Of changes hos Occu-
pied but twenty-three minutes, yet the fame
exceeded our earth In volume tenfold at least.
But Mr.. Lockyer has recorded On instance of
yet more marvellous nature. A vast promi-
nence, extending seventy or eighty thousand
miles from the suns surface, vanished alto
gether In ten minutes. The very way In which
Zollner's drawings were taken sayors Of the
marvellous. We have spoken Of them as COL
ored. They are ruby-red, and so tho promi-
nences appeared to The astronomer. Tho real
light Of the prominences Is not ruby-red, how
ever, but rose-colored, with faint indications
of pink, or even blueish tlnts. The fact Is,
that by tho new method Of observation the
Image OF prominence Is formed by onlyIa
certain part OF its light. We may say that,
out Of tho several colored Images Of the same
prominence, the astronomer selects one only
for examination. The explanation Of this
Is worth consideration, as 1t Involves the es-
sence OF the method by which the promi-
nences are seen at oil. When we analyae Light
with Q simple prism, as Newton did, we get
instead of Q round spot Of white-that Is,
mixed light-a row OF overlapping sp0ss OF
different color. 1t was only when, instead Of
round spot, fine line Of white was analyZed,
that one could detect the absence of images of
this line along certain parts OF the rainbow
colored streak-in other words, 1t was thus
only that the dark lines of the spectrum could
be seen. And it was to see these lines more
clearly that the slt on the spectroscope was
made so narrow and the rainbow.Spectrum
made 80 long By spectroscopists. But the OBJ
servers OF the promilences go back to the old
method. II they used narrow slit, narrow
strip Of the prominence would alone form It's
spectrum, which would consist Of a few bright
lines. But by having a wide slit the wbels
prominence from It's spectrum, which consists
1t few bright pictures Of the promin4naes
There Is green picture corresponding aou .
bright spectral line caDsd +, y red pics0re q n.
to the bright spectral limo ealleS G.
and so on. If the whole set Of pictYres Jere
formed at once we could see none Of theu for
here would be side by side with thsv the
hem altogether, just as In ordinary Try esc0ne
observation the bright sunlight boz ont thp
from the view, Bit N the OBJ
server uses such battery OF p lsuls that the
'olar spectrum would be YER Ion,, indeed.
md If he admits to view only Thai. nart of the
spectrum opposite which, one of The nromI.
exists. he csn thep ser thot
mage quito distinctly, for the nelShboriny
part Of the solar speev nm is 40 rednced II,
'plenGor lnas al IL 10 longer obliterltes the
aurar so,oo,a n this way, then, the OBJ
erver sciects uuo : other OF the pictures Of u
,rominence, eitnV the red or the green pic
ure, 70 eAahue And strangely enough 1t ls
y y, no means cV tain that the two pictures are
lhsi s;,in, maIaoc 1t Is highly probable that they
re re anIeIGns, M though we have not space hero
i'neI " NY cate reasons for believing this, or
y eApia.n' he significance OF the circumstance
nUuu Nv .ventually be established.
IL se" is to lis that when we consider the
ea Wv tensions OF the solar globe. we appre-
iste .ore fully the wonderful nature of those
rocS sses Of action indicated by recent re
cav hes than when we regard these without
irs ct reference to Sne suns magnitude. How
u ny Of US really appreciate the enormous
Jlume OF the sum- We read certain figures
books Of astronomy, but do We greSp their
'ull slgnlfcancc? There is, however, a simple
way Of Viewing the matter which ut once
opens our eyes to the vastness OF the solar
globe.
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ENLEMJNGS WORM CONNECTIONS,
III