Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-10-02
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
Lemstrom's Conclusion's-Auror 10
realis Manufactured by Man.
New York TIuaS


New York Times
But let us leave the domain O
theory and see what has been founs
IN the realm of facts regarding thu:
strange and beautiful display. 1t may
seem singular to say that the north
ern lights have been manufactured By
man-made to order, 50 to speak-bu
such is really the case, or, at ieast
claimed by Professor LemStrom. in
charge of the Finnish IptGrnationa
Meteorological Station at Sodanl6yla
Finland. A copper wire mounted or
telegraph poles was wound around
the apex Of a small hill, covering
about 5000 square yards, from top t
bottom, IN q spiral course as it ascend
ed the hillside grade, points like those
on q lightning rod pointing upward
being fastened to the wire every foot
and a half, one end being connected
with a conducting metallic disk sunk
in the earth. Many interesting ex-
periments were made with this singu
lar apparatus, hut the most startling
was when it was used by nature itself
and, the air seemingly overcharged
with electrical force, an auroral glow
sprang into the air from the multitude
of points, which light, analyzed BY
the spectrum, was identical with that
of the northern lights. From this
fact, indeed, Lemstrom very natur
ally concluded that the aurora Dor.
calls was terrestrial display,
or very near the surface OF the earth,
but in these claims he has been stout
ly contested by others, many OF
whom claim that the distance has
been measured TO a considerable do
gree of accuracy, and they all agree
that it is quite high, supra atmospher-
ic, supposing the air 10 be forty>six
miles deep.
1t is too much within the domain of
dry mathematics to discuss at length
the different methods employed by
different Observers to determine the
height, but the results attained would
be interesting, no doubt. Lemstrom,
as l nave said, though it might reach
to the ground, and has produced it in
an artificial way thQrefrom. Sir John
Ross. believe it was, who said that
ne and some companions distinctly
saw a brilliant ray of the aurora pass
batween him ana a high snow cover
ed hill not many miles distant. Sir
John Franklin's measurements in
North America show it to be seven
miles high. The French at Bossekop,
Norway, as early as 1888 3, got it up
to bet ween 60 and 100 miles. Tromhelt
puts it st about 70, and he has made
l..
part OF the subject closer than most
physicists. Norsdenskjold, the Arctic
explorer, puts it at lis miles, which
Professor Fearnley follows closely at
124, and Newton gets but 5 miles
more, or l30, as a result OF his deduc-
tons. Somewhere in the vicinity of
the numbers given above will prob.
| ably be found the true values, if they
are ever determined, and it may be
that all are within the true limits, for
like the clouds, as one of the above
| authors remarks, the auroral displays
may be found to have wide limits in
their heights. Bergman does not rest
| contented, however, until he has pub,
lished the height at 486 miles, Marian
4S5 and Boscovich at S25 Ihave not
given all authorities, but probably
the most reliable and the greatest ex>
| tremes.
The extent of the auroral displays
| over the world is not uniform, the
United States being the most favored,
while Siberia, opposite to us across the
pole, but much further north, is the
least. New York City has about the
same frequency of auroral displays as
st. Petersburg and London, and also
as Slbe "a. more than half way up the
Behring Sea coast, fully 1,500 to 2,00C
miles nearer the pole. They are seen
as far south as Cuba, Central Mexico,
Yucatan and Cape st. Lucas on the
American Continent, while in Asia
they are unknown in Pekin, and al
most SO in the japanese Islands,
Southern Europe, on the latitude oi
New York City, being just within the
limits of visibility. In general, it is
seen about ] 400 miles further south
on the Western Continent side, than
it is on the Eastern, or just the dis
tance the magnetic poll is from the
true or geographical one, pulled over
the same side, so to speak. it being
just north of our continent. II thu!
plainly shows that the magnetic pole
is central point from which the au
roral force in some unknown way i.
dependent. The magnetic pole, ap
proximately speaking is on longitude
100 degrees west from Greenwich
and on that meridian the displays are
more frequent than other points Of th'
same latitude.