Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-08-07
JULY STORMS ON THE SUN.
Terrible Tempest Forces at Work All
Through the Month.

Terrible Tempest Forces at Work All
Through the Month.
New York Sun.
June closed with peaceful skies after the
tornadoes and thunder storms of the
m ddle Of the month, and July opened
with summer quietude prevailing all
round the globe. The elements were
at peace upon the earth. But on the sun
,bere Was d d ffsrent scene. Through the
still III on The aflerno0n of Ju |. the rs
tronomer pointed his t lesc, pe at the great
and life, and It's rays fell upon
the lenses with perfect steadi ess,
and bending obedientiy to the f. Us
Of the instrument, made m image of the
sun hat. whei m-gIif d. Was As exquisite
~ sharp aud clear his though Cal ' ed IN
gold by u master jeweIer. IL required b
d glance :, show that the urface of this
splendid ball, which the astronomer knew
was S6UUOU miles in dIameter, though II
hung win r ON to sraIe. in The cir, ular
lie of the eye-piece, WAS wrin-led aud
pltted. t IN, to sed and heaviug under the
strain of teDp-st force. here were vast
groups OF spots, Individual mem Ders Of
which covered more square miles than all
the C ntin' nts of the earth; there were
small spe ks hard vi lble WHEN great
mag flied, aud around all Were the
or nkleu lines of facu a brighter than the
rest the surf .ce, an crowded together
in places, resem bin G sea Of flames as
seen from above. IL required but a short
tim to show that hangts were gong IN
under the eve the observer, siig It m
pared with toe vast extent OF the spot,
ye involving motions tn It have 10 parallel
on the earth. The sstio omer bad only to
apply speCtroscupe to see thai all around
the ,un were enormous fiery protu beranres
thrown out like jets from n geyser to
height of thousands aud tens of thousands
of miles, and sett Dg back in clouds of
glowing vhpor. SO through the ca III of
sum mer aft rnoon, At the safe dista ce OF
ninety>two millions of miles, he could
watch the storms on the SUM- trace the fiery
cyclones blowing hundr ed mites second,
and study and Internationally II assure the
visible fleets of forces thst would SKATER
and vaporize the eaith. Yet the enormous
distance that separates the earth from the
sun is not in all respec so safe AS it seems
san storms certaI ly have powerful ELECT
up n the electrical COZ dition of thu earth,
and il is suspected that they may affect the
earth's weather.
The sun was storm swept through the
whole month. he clear air that ged
the earth on the LIST, Was soon after tiied
Will CtOuUs 6Hu unl6F sLOTHS, anu W5S
whirled here and there into death aling
tornadoes, 30 that the astronomers
telesc pc became useless. But in
all the intervals of fair weather it
showed the SUMS face yet spotted ard
wrinkled and trimmed with eruptions of
fam ng gas. In the m ddle of the month
some OF the spots or holes, were of en"r>
NOUS mag nude and of wonde full COM
plexity in shape AID detail A. ain at the
close of the month hug groups nd rows
of spots were stretched across the disc. and
the view wi h high magnifers Was start-
and exceedingly impressive
The most that astronomers are able TO
s'y with cor Fl fence about these spots is
that they are holes of liz and depth al
most hey ond belief; and they are pro
duced by sturb noes in the glowing mat
ter of the sun. and that tn y are governed
by some law that causes them to wax and
wsne in number in a peri d OF about
eleven years There were no spo to
speak Of in IS 8; they began to appear
frequently in 1881: III 1888 they W II be-
most numerous, and in 1859 the sun will
again be free from them.