New-York tribune., 1884-02-03
THE SUN AND Sun SPOTS.
LECTURE BY PROFESSOR YOUNG.
EFFECT or sun SPOTS on THE EARTH-THK cHRo-
MOsPHERE.


EFFECT or SUN SPOTS on THE EARTH-THK cHRo'
MosPHERE.
Professor C.. A. Young, of Princeton CO.iege,
delivered last evening al the Cooper Institute tie second
of his series of lectures upon the He said IN SUD
stance:
There perodicty aboui the sunspots which Is very
peculiar. One hundred years ago observers hah hOoe
that these spots sometimes more numerous thHn ~
others, but no law upon the SUBJECT "ds WV ~
In 1851 however the Swiss astronomer "oin' s''ou
tha; there was rise aud fall Of spotf maximum ana
a minimum and that from maximum 10 the next
maximum CT from. one minimum 10 the next was ii
years and 1IIO0 OF year. The Germ IN astronomers
showed thai there extreme regary Ii this peiou
which Was shortened to seven years anu Sohe
times elongated sixteen But the grand average was ~
Wolf has stated and the usual defectonfom that was TWO
years making from maximum tOnsxmun ether Is years
lliOO or years il1OO Now this perlOdicty was moi
analogous to planetary action, aud could notherforc oe
caused by any planet the first siipposition
Mercury and Venus suspected Of being connected
with the because they were near the sum- ana
Ju.er because OF it, immense sze ard also because the
period orbit nearly concuen win the cYce OF
the spots But this has never been made out Ii s more
probable that the solar and have coniectured
that the IN the accumulate and as II wre Doh
over at recurring periods with tho same irregular regu
larty as the spoutng Of geyser Is there any connec
ton between The maEnums sun spots and terrestrial
much serious investigation exist on the subject
Ii has been proved by our delicate instruments for
measuring heat that sun-spCt gives only one-half
as much heat another part Of The suns surface Ihs
was shown by Professor Langley. But he also showed
that disturbed surface whole gives out ralheI
more heat than less I received last year number OF
letters shov1u. that the suns maximum Of spots then
present was accompanied by cyclones storms tornadoes
etc. In our great west and the writers were Thoroughly
convinced that some connection existed between the two
facts l. was said that III 1870 there was also ana1nh
of sun spots and extraordinarily hot summer But II
WAS forgotten that obsery atOn TO be conclusive must
cover the whole Of the earths surface, and not
a part only il happened that IN 1870 al
our artpodes in New-Zeaand there was at
the time Of our hot summer intensely cold winter
som thing phenomenal for that region But an ulls-
and sferr ton. OF the magnetic needle. II is
vel established tnat the period Of maximum Of spots
coin, dcn, witn period o greatest decLnauon oI the
needle 1t may be that the iron ii the sun has something
ordnqril What we see Of the sun is the philosophers
But outside OF tha: ana beyond II the spn has
an envelope Of Gas and stIcamers 100000 miles IN eX
tent and sometimes million Llle auH even i've or six
million njlcs thrown ont. TINS Invisible part be
comes visible ~ times of eclipse Previous 10 1868
number OF brilliant HiDI-co'oIed 9geIt; GaS Deeh 9D
served upon the eG-e The Ccpsed BODY ot the sun IL
1Icv wra a; every par; ~ the photosphcre and there
cOGld 10. no nut that there w)~ IgtroI men, Whch
chrcmosphere. The sDectrum showed that these were
gaseous and also tla. the gas Was hydrogen Jansen
cOud De observed any tinc anu mat the astronomer
need MOI wait for an eclipse ~ study IT, Lockyer IL
England had found olt the same t.dls.
nov cometo trN very Interesting Observations ard
hypothesis oi Professor Hu.lugs, 40" OF Yale College
who accompanied ti Caroline Island party ior the pur
pNse NJ eXa- ulug TIE cofouf. He came Ia the concu
tIe envelope tat - .cs TIE bricL, Inc
no sIeC-ruu Ytry indeed, and ifs arr1-
1rut euiars 1e c ihe dinrIction OF hGhi. II
tlc 1h were attracted the appearance Oi the halo
word re VIVID tie side The be-iluiuC ct the
eclipse nd ou the west side a. the end. Aud th3t this Is
the case f. s'uf"ly certain. While an not pared
To Hastings. his observations grove beyond
much doubt thi this atmosphere, quasainosphere,
l. no. SO great extent as md been iEtcnfd and can
moi r- grtatcI thau from ~ 600 40 10000 miias.
Bur fcgn the examinations Of the ChlOmOsphere lis
obvious tha the Fromineuces are rejected INTO s01e-
thug lpyOud IT, and this action has extraordinary
TpsemGfu TO te formation OF clouds n otr own dt!uo
hCip. They have hecn ~ first low and not much
beyond tae cIl.DOsp pleTc, md tEcl 10 few minutes
they have iIl- beVoYd &c. as % produce the az
vearauce OF a prlilc ire Then they have separated
hem-elves FROM luc base like clouds forming above
river summer and have returned 90 IT, Ike the same
clouds flu in rain. There can DE no question OF the
connection between the bright mcuie and he promi-
ucncaN Ibc.c pIGuncuces have assumed shapes de-
stribed rs clouds, diiuse, Elementary semmei. AZ
horns pIles, spike, sAes ana NOlnes Jcls vertical
fiani .nts cyclones, erup;iOns ana flames.