The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1883-08-02
sun SPOTS AND STORMS.
How the Earth ~ Affected by COnvuI-
siOms-..Interesting Experiments
with the Camera.


L.
During the past few years the coin
cidence 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 APP
palliug. But this is merely prelimi-
nary to a statement of facts which
seem to demonstrate more fully the
direct influence of the sun storms upon
our meteorology.
Last November the Democrat and
Chronicle observer made series of
three photographs of the sun during
the period when an enormous solar
storm was causing II storpage of tele-
graphic communication over the en-
tire globe. The first negative, giving
an image of the sun three and one
half inches In diameter, was taken
when the great sun spot had just be-
come visible by solar rotation. The
black vortex and seething billows of
intense white light We're then greatly
fOreshortened and were not turned di-
rectly toward the earth. The sun was
quite low in the south, and the rays
came to the sensitive photographic
plate in u 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
photogra pliers call II thin negative. A
day later the storm region had been
turned toward 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 witnessed in his eX-
l,erience IA photographer of the sun.
The negative was sO dense and black
that il required two days to get "A pho
tograph,c prirt from it in full sun
| light.
Clouds prevented the taking of an
other negative until three days had
passed. In this interval the great
electric storm occurred. The third
negative showed an entire change in
the form Of the spot. 1t had spread
out and broken up into II group of
sp"ts all surrounded by the widest
commotion 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 action of the solar rays.
| This remarkable exhibition of the
chemical power of the sun storm was
duly noted aud tiWe went on. Mega
| tives taken after the great sun spot
had disappeared showed no such ac-
| tion, although the photographic plate
was of the same quality.
a box of the same plates prepared
at the time of the first exposures men,
| toned remained over until this sum
mer. Two negatives We're made on
| the 29th of June when the great solar
| disturbance Of recent date was at its
height. The central portion of the
suns disk was sprinkled with spots,
and on the east the great spot which
could be seen with the naked eye
| 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, render
| ing the negative abont them much
darker than on the other portions Of
| the disk. But there was not such an
entire b sck nm. of the plate as in
| November. a. fact the electric storm
which followed the advent Of the last
disturbance WAS hot so great as that OF
| November But the two sets Of mega
| tives show conclusively that the chem
| ical action Of the solar ray is more EN-
ergetic during sun storms than at
other times. This being established,
it follows that the whole earth must
| be affected 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.
Homer's record of Apollo darting
fiery rays and killing the Greeks en-
camped before Troy, Is no myth in the
light Of to-day. Ii may not be wholly
mythical the rivers about Troy were
set on fire and seethed within their
banks. We have in Homer's descrip-
tion poetic account of n great
drought, when the rivers actually
blnzeH