The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-09-08
The Central Engine of the So
lar System.


! times as large as the earth within the
surface so seen their lies mass exceed
I ing the earth's $4,000 times the mater
ials present in the suns globe of our
earth-at least we know that iron, cop
per, zinc, sodium, magnesium, calcium,
titanium, and number Of other metallic
elements are present: hydrogen is Ger
tainly there in enormous quantities, and
DR. Henry Draper proved also that Oxy-
gen is present, while no astronomer
doubts that those other elements which
have not as yet been detected ifpthe sun
are really present in his mass.
Now have We any evidence as to the
way in which the mighty mass of the
sun is disposed within that surface which
encloses what We term his volume p
though in reality one can hardly say
what his volume is, seeing that there are
portions of his mass outside the surface
which bounds his visible globe. Is the
sun mass uniformly distributed through
out tAat ftc4bic -tpDcr ArJDtsuNN tAiliec -
large as our earth? or is ii concentrated
. toward the centre? or, ON the other
hand, is the denser part near the sur
face. - that the sun i what Professor
Young once suggested, a gigantic bubble
There are three lines on which We can
seek for an answer to these questions.
Il. Il 4
of the sun behaves in in manner utter
ly inconsistent alike with the idea that
this surface Is near the real surface OF an
inferior globe, and with the idea that the
visible surface Is part of "a mighty vesicle
or bubble. The spot zones are carried
around at different rates, according, to
their distance from the equatorial solar
regions. Not 10 follow Fave and others
In niceties of circulation far from justi-
fed by the evidence We have }, | may
say that the equatorial zone gains about
one rotation in seven on the spot zones,
or, roughly some, 2,1000,000 miles in 200
days-say 800 miles per day. Such a
velocity a. this, close on ten miles in
minute, could not possibly exist in
cloud-laden region lsuch as the visible
surface of the sun undoubtedly is), and
as affecting regions exceeding the whole
surface of the earth thousands of times.
unless that cloud-laden region were very
far away from the real surface OF the sun.
and therefore from the frictional effects
of the true solar rotation. The real mass
Of the sun, however distributed, can only
rotate as one; the visible cloud surface
has many rates of rotation; therefore
there must be an enormous distance be
tween the two.
Secondly, calculation has been made
by competent mathematicians respecting
the amount of polar compression which
would arise from the rotation of a globe
such as the sun appears to be, at the aver
age rate of rotation indicated BY the so
lar spots. 1t is found that the polar fiat
tening would be well within the measur-
ing capacity ofour best instruments. But
if there is one thing certain about the
sun, it is that without such capacity
his apparent globe is not fiattened at all.
1t is absolutely certain, then. that the
real globe of the sun lies far within the
surface of flowing clouds which We see
and measure.
Thirdly, our earth has her story to tell
about the suns Interior We know from
the earth's crust that, for periods of time
which geologists now estimate by tens of
millions of years, the suns power has
been at work on the earth's crust. by rain,
wind, and storm, fashioning and reflsh-
ioning the structure of that crust, now
forming layers, anon cutting them up, but
throughout leaving clear traces of his
handiwork. Croll estimates the dura-
tion of this part of the earth's history
that is. of the time during which the
earth's crust has been forming under So
lar aetion-af fully one hundred millions
of years. In other words. our earth tells I
Us Of at least one hundred millions Of |
years of sun work, at the suns present |
rate of working II Is matter of no i'm
portance whether we suppose that the /
sun has worked all the time at his present /
rate, or has sometimes worked with more [
energy, sometimes with less. 1t Is the /
quantity of sun work, not the way in /
which the work has been done, which I
alone has to be considered. Now all 4
physicists and astronomers are agreed in I
regarding the suns emission of heat As Z
due wholly or almost wholly 10 solar 4
gravitation, resulting in the steady con
traction of the suns mass. To get from (.
the sun of past ages the amount of work
which our earth tells u he has actually
done, We must suppose him once to have
been very much larger than he is now
how much larger We cannot say.
take it also that the change which
takes place in the aspect of the suns
corona as the number of sun spots varies.
and the alienation of the physical con
dition of the corona-in such sort that
when there are many spots, its spectrum
indicates the presence of glowing hydro
gen, whereas, when there are few. the
lines of hydrogen are few or wanting
correspond also with the theory that the
time of sun spots is Il time of great erup-
tionaI activity For the rush of elected
through the coronai region would
cause the hydrogen present there mot as
an atmosphere, but irregularly distribu-
ted and moving around the sum to glow
with greater lustre, 80 as to show the
lines of hydrogen in the spectrum OF the
corona.
Ii is, ut my rate, remarkable that all
the facts known to US in regard to the
sun spots themselves, TO the colored
flames, and to the corona, should agree in
confirming that which Is al ready all but
BY three strong lines of
evidence, that the real working mass Of
the sun II very much smaller than the
globe We measure a. his, and that all the
phenomena which gives 50 great an in
terest in the study Of the sun are due to
tremendous forces at work tens of thous-
ands Of miles below the surface which
limits our view of his globe, and hides
from Us the processes by which the life
Of the solar system is mainfained.-R A.
PRoeTER, in Harper's Mdgaziae for .ssptsn'-