The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-04

In the eclipses of 1942 and 1851, it was the
principal circumstance to which the attention
of the observer was directed; and NJ. Arago was
able to perceive what might be termed too
rings-the inner one, or that which bOrdered on
the moons limb, being OF q uniform brightness
whence it faded imperceptibly outward, and
terminated irregularly. The inner ring was
or minis. in breadth; but the whole breadth of
the corona was differently estimated by various
observers as 8 min, 16 min, and 25 min. in
breadth.
The appearance of this ring of light is now
generally attributed TO the effect of the atmo-
sphere of the sun, rather than to anything of the
same nature in the case of the moon. The latter
was the supposition of Kepler, and before the
want of an atmosphere was established by nu-
merous proofs it was the most natural theory;
although the great breadth of the ring would go
to prove that its height must be three or four
hundred miles, or ten times the extent of the
'earth's atmosphere. No such difficulties exist
in the case of its being supposed to be the solar
atmosphere, while its concentric form, in regard
to the sun at different periods of observation,
tends still further to confirm this conjecture.
The corona, however, cannot be identified us
forming the zodiacal light; for it has mostly
been observed of a circular form, whilst the
latter is elliptcal.
Red Flames.
In the eclipses of l715 and 1888, when the sun
was wholly ecGpsed, and only the corona was
visible, the margin of the moon was noticed to
be marked with some red spots, which remained
visible for some seconds. Whilst observing the
corona in 1S42 these appearances again became
Unexpectedly conspicuous to the different OBJ
servers. They were first observed few seconds
after the time of total observation, and were of
fine crimson tint, being compared by one OBJ
server to the peaks of the Alps illumined by the
setting sun, and by another to beautiful sheaves
of flames, which remained visible even after the
sun had emerged. The length of the most con-
siderable was, by actual measurement found to
be equal to ia minutes of arc. Only two or
three isolated prominences were perceived by
the observers stationed in the south of France;
but to NJ. Struve and Schidlowsky these rose
colored flames burst out at several parts of the
lunar disc, very large portion of the periphery
beingganished with the crimson bordering. NJ.
Littrow noticed that they changed their color as
the eclipse advanced, being at first white, then
rose color, and finally violet, passing afterwards
in a reverse order through the same tnts. In
the eclipse of 1851 these crimson projections
were Of rare beauty, and appeared in great num-
bers. Some seen in this instance were crooked,
| and resembled a flame bent aside by the wind
| Figure 4.
Those rose-colored prominences seen in the
| innermost and brighter zone present the most
remarkable phenomena battling to science. They
are curiousy shaped In 1851 one observer com
| pared them to boomerang, another to a bal
| loon. Some have been compared to flames
| bursting from the housetop, others to the teeth
| of circular-saw. Airy and Arago were the
| first to conjecture that these belonged to the
| sun; and the former showed it to be probable
| that these flames did not change during the mo-
| tons of the moon. In 1850 Mr.. De la Rue, by
means of the Kew heliograph, set the matter
| completely at rest From the pictures that he
| obtained, Mr. De la Rue was able to show that
the flames only changed apparently, not really,
| owing to the moon in its motions covering one
portion and disclosing another; so that when
| the clock of his instrument was adjusted to
the SUMS motion, that portion of the flames not
covered by the moon stood still. These results
were verified by Father Secchi, and fact is now
established that no change occurs in their form
4 during the interval of totality observations in
the solar eclipse. Thus, equally with the
corona, the present theory is that these ap-
pearances are in the atmosphere OF the sun,
and are in nowise connected with the sun.
Their reddish color would seem to show that
they were of q cloudy nature, resembling our
terrestrial Clouds and absorbing all the rays of
the spectrum except the red
|