The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-04-11
The Banners OF the SUN.

The Banners Of the sun.
There is little island, only ten miles
in circumference, lying almost in the
middle of the South Pacific Ocean, which
will be in May next the chief 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 on
May can be obtained. Astronomers
from America, France and England will
meet there and set up their Instrument
of observation. The exact latitude and
longitude of that insignificant little island
will be calculated with scrupulous care
which has never been bestowed upon its
larger sisters of the Pacific A great
deal of money will be spent upon these
expeditions, and the most skillful OBJ
servers will make the long journey into
the southern hemisphere, consuming
months of time, for the sake of watching
for few minutes the phenomena which
make their appearance when the blazing
body of the sun is hidden behind the
opaque globe of the moon. But the
astronomers count the expense and
trouble incurred in the undertaking AZ
nothing in comparison with the results
to be obtained. The eclipse is of un-
common importance because of the long
duration of the total phase. The sun
will remain totally elipsed at Caroline
Island about five minutes and a half.
This is the longest totality during any
eclipse since that of 1868 which was OBJ
served in India The totality during the
eclipse observed in Egypt last year lasted
only little over one minute.
In order to understand what the
aoN g. lscl.< fl,f1
occasion, it is best to recall what has
been learned within the last quarter of
century by the observation of eclipses of
the sun. The astronomers have found
by such observations that we do not or
dinarily see the sun as it really is: We
think of the sun only as dazzling white
globe, much brighter and incomparably
larger than any electric light. Obser-
vations 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
envelopes. First, there is close around
the shining globe u scarlet shell of flame,
out of which tremendous eruptions of
fiery gases occur. Sometimes these
geysers of flame reach a height of hun
dreds of thousands of miles in an aston
ishingly 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 volcanic-like outbursts are taking
place, but they are particularly numer-
Gus in certain regions. They indicate
that the sun, instead of being the quiet
and peaceful orb that it appears to the
ordinary observer on a summers day, is
in a state of enormous activity-it is a
huge globe of gases in which iron and
other metals, calcium and other rock
materials, reduced to fiery vapor, are
engaged in the most frightful war of ell
ements that the human mind can con-
ceive. Milton's picture of the bat
tie of the angels is tameness itself
beside the tremendous struggle in which
these elements composing the sun are
engaged. Held in the center of the
whole ,olar 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 tremendous eruptions,
only to fall back in metallic showers and
renew the ceaseless struggle.
Outside this battle field 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, a 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 sum-
This is one of the most interesting ques-
tions that modern astronomers are trying
to answer. Some think they are con-
nected with the solar atmosphere. Others
say they are enormous streams of me-
teors. In the latter part of this month
those who watch the western sky after
sundown 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 disappeared, and reaching
halfway to the zenith. Some astrono.
mers think the coronal beams which ap.
pear duringa q total eclipse may be con
nected 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 oi
what it does, have been obtained since
the study Of its surroundings was begun
than were ever entertained before Itis
in order to increase the stock of knowl'
edge upon this subject that the astrono'
mers are going to set up their instru'
ments 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 its rays. In 1875
two American astronomers announced
that they had seen not only one, but two
such planets. The famous lie Verriei
believed in the existence of such a planet,
which has been called Vulcan. The long
totality during the eclipse in May viii
give an excellent opportunity to settle
fha question y Sun.