Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-03-21
The Banners OF the Sun.

miles IN circumference, lying alHlost
in the middle of the south Pacific
Ocean, which will be in May next the
center Of scientific interest on the
globe. This is because it is the only
available spot of land whence a view
of the total phase of the eclipse of
the sun which occurs OH May 9th
can be obtained. Astronomers from
America, France, and England will
meet there and set up there instru-
ments of observation. The exact lat
itude and longitude Of that insignif-
cant little island will be calculated
with scrupulous care which has
never been bestowed upon its larger sis
tiers of the Pacific. great deal Of mon
ey will be spent upon these expeditions,
and the most skilful observers will
make the long journey into the south
ern hemisphere, consuming months of
time, for the sake of watching for
few minutes the phenomena which
make their appearance when the blaz-
ing body of the sun is hidden behind
the Opaque globe of the moon. But
the astronomers count the expense
and trouble incurred in the undertake
ing as nothing in comparison with the
results to be obtained. This eclipse is
Of uncommon Importance because of
the long duration of the total phase.
The sun will remain totally eclipsed
at Caroline Island about five minutes
and half This is the longest total
ity during any eclipse since that of
1868 which was observed in India.
The totality during the eclipse observ-
ed in Egypt last year lasted only
little over one minute.
In order to understand what the
astronomers hope to accomplish on
this occasion, it is best to recall what
has been learned within the last quar-
ter of century by the observation Of
the sun. The astronomers have found
by such observations that we do not
ordinarily see the sun as it really is.
We think of the sun only as a daz-
cling white globe, much brighter and
incomparably larger than any cleo
trio light. Observations during total
eclipses, when this brilliant globe is
hidden from sight, have shown that
the white sphere we see is merely the
core of the sun, and that around it
there are the most wonderful envel-
opes. First, there is close around the
shining globe a scarlet shell of flame,
out of which tremendous eruptions of
fiery gases occur. Sometimes these
geysers of fame reach a height of
hundreds of thousands of miles in an
astonishingly short space of time, and
then the erupted material spreads
out and falls back in clouds and
streams of the most fantastic shapes.
All around the sun these volcano like
outbursts are taking place, but they
are particularly numerous in certain
regions. They indicate that the sun,
instead of being the quiet and peace
full orb that it appears to the ordinary
observer OH summers day, is in a
state of enormous activity-it is
hugh globe Of gases in which iron
and other metals, calcium and other
rock making materials, reduced to
fiery vapor, are engaged in the most
irightful war of elements that the
human mind can conceive. Millions
picture of the battle of the angels is
tameness itself beside the tremendous
struggle in which these elements COM
posing the sun are engaged. Held in
the center of the whole solar system
by the resistless power of gravitation,
they are in pit whence they cannot
escape, yet, glowing with intensest
heat, they surge and swirl and burst
forth in metallic showers and renew
the ceaseless struggle.
Outside this battlefield of the gases
is another region quite as wonderful
and Of much greater extent. This is
the region Of the so-called corona,
when in a total eclipse the central
globe of the sun is completely hidden,
silvery halo comes into view outside
the scarlet shell that lies next to the
body of the sun, and outward from
this halo spread great shafts and
streaks of light. What are these
mysterious banners of the sun? This
is one of the most interesting questions
that modern astronomers are trying
to answer. Some think they are con-
nected with the solar atmosphere.
Others say they are enormous streams
of meteors. In the latter part Of
this month those who watch the wes-
tern sky after shutdown will probably
see the curious phenomenon known as
the Zodiacal Light, a lenticular-shaped
glow of silvery light sloping upward
from the place where the sun disap-
peared, and reaching half way to the
zenith. Some astronomers think the
coronal beams which appear during a
total eclipse may be connected with
this light.
The study of all these questions
throws light upon the constitution of
the sun, and upon the suns relations
with the worlds which revolve around
it. More correct ideas of what the
sun is, and of what it does, have been
obtained since the study of its sur
roundings was begun than were ever
entertained before. 1t is in order to
increase the stock of knowledge upon
this subject that the astronomers are
going to set up their instruments in
the little Pacific island. There is
another question which they also hope
to solve, and that is whether there is
another world, hitherto unknown to
us, revolving so close to the sun as to
be ordinarily hidden in his rays. In
1878 two American astronomers an
nounced that they had seen not only
one, but two such planets. The ia
nous lie Verrier believed in the ex-
istance of such planet, which has