Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-04
SUN SPOTS AND STORMS.

During the past three years the coinci.
dencs of sun storms and earth storms has
been so accurate that it now seems safe to
assume that they have the relation OF cause
and effect. For more than three months
the most violent storms have ragged on the
sun, and for that period tornadoes and
thunder-storms of the greatest violence
have been OF daily occurrence. The loss
of life and property has been appalling.
But this is merely preliminary to state
ment of facts which seem 20 demonstrate
more fully the direct influence of the sun
storms upon our meteorology. Last No
vember an observer at Rochester observa-
tory made series of three photographs of
the sun during the period when an enor-
nous solar storm was stoppsge of tele-
graphic communication over the entire
globe. The first negative, giving an image
of the sun 81 inches In diameter, was
taken when the great sun spot had Just be-
come visible by solar rotation. The black
vortex and seething pillows of intense
white light were then greatly foreshort-
ened and were not turned directly toward
the earth. The sun was quite low in the
eouth, and the rays came to the sensitive
Photographic plate in slanting direction
through our atmosphere. The chemical
action of the light on the plate was not
very energetic, except in the region about
the sun spot, and the result was what pho
tographers call q thin negative. A day
later the storm region had been turned TO-
ward the earth, and the great spot could
be seen with the naked eye. A negative
taken that day showed the most energetic
chemical action the observer had ever wit
messed in his experience as a photographer
of the sun. The negative was so dense and
black that it required two days to get
photograph print from it in full sunlight.
Clouds prevented the taking of another
negative until three days had passed In
this interval the great electric storm oc-
Cured. The third negative showed an en-
tire change in the form of the spot II had
spread out and broken up into group of
spots all surrounded by the widest com.
motion in the luminous envelope, This
negative was blackened over the entire
disk Of the sun, giving another exhibition
of the highest energy in the chemical &C.
ton of the solar rays. This remarkable
exhibition Of the chemical power of the sun
storm was duly noted and time went on.
Negatives taken after the great sun spot
had disappeared showed no such action
although the Photographic plate was of the
same quality. a box of the same plates
prepared at the time OF the first exposures
mentioned remained over until this sum-
mer. Two negatives were made on the
29sh of June when the great solar disturb.
ance of recent date was at its hight The
central portion of the suns disk was
sprinkIed with spots, and on the east the
great spot which could be seen with the
naked eS spread itself out The negative
showed the most energetic chemical action
in the rays proceeding from the vicinity of
the solar disturbance. These regions made
their mark on the plate, rendering the neg
alive about them much darker than on the
other portions of the disk. But there was
not such an entire blackening of the plate
as in November. In fact the electric storm
which followed the advent of the last dis
turbance was not so great as that of No
vember. Bat the two sets of negatives
show conclusively that the chemical action
of the solar ray is mora energetic during
sun storms than at other times. This be-
ing established, it follows that the whole
earth must be Effected by such conditions.
The remarkable meteorology of the year is
accounted for. And until the sun storms
disappear the earth storms will continue
with more or less violence Rochester
Democrat.