The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-13
A SUN-SPOT STORY.
MYSTERIOUS BLEMISHEs ON A DAZ-
ZLINGLY FAIR FACE.
The Periodical waxing and waning
of the suns spOttednesS-A Per
picking Phenomenon.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
On a beautiful summer morning In 1893
a light cloud Of mist suddenly covered the
face OF the sun, abstracting the beams
perlous TO the eye and providing a sin
gularIy fine definition OF the usually daz-
zling disk No one who looked at the
pleasing spectacle could have failed to
perceive a pronounced blot on the other
wise fair surface; It was a sun spot
group OF extraordinary size, covering an
area Of at least 1909. 10000 square miles.
and furnishing a hint Of the suns immen-
sity. for its larger diameter was not one
eighth nor its smaller diameter one
twentlfth that Of the sun.
The discovery Of sun-spots is not one of
the triumphs OF our own golden age. for
in the long, long ago, in the "howery
kingdom Of far away China, there wero
mist clouds and sharp eyes. as is evinced
by records OF sun-spots written in the baf-
fling characters of most remarkable al
phabet
And nearer our own time in A. d. N7,
European observers saw a large spot
which was supposed to be the planet Ner-
curry. But, like the little worlds which
roam in space between the orbs of Mars
and Jupiter, and which are discovered
only TO be lost again, sun-spots figured SO
little in the annals of the times that when
Iabricius announced in l6l1 that he had
FOUND dark spots on the sum-" he agi-
lated the prevailing schools Of philosophy
to their depths, for all such singular ap-
pearances had been attributed to the tran
sits OF planets. The great name Of Calico
is associated with the discovery and that
mental giant claimed to have seen spots
earlier even than Fabricius. Still, another
Independent discovery was made by
Schelner
Calico and Fabricius saw that the spots
are objects on the suns surface, carried
along by the rotation of the sun on its
axis. For brief while Scheiner suppos-
ed them 70 be planets. but he finally ac-
copied Galileos views. And (here is &
hint TO tho wise) he devised the excellent
plan of viewing the spots by throwing the
image of the sun, procured by his tee-
scope, on screen.
(All that is necessary is to aim the tele-
scope, which must previously have been
tocussed upon a distant terrestrial object
at the sun, and then-with the eye-piece
drawn out perhaps a quarter Of an inch
TO hold sheet Of white paper few
inches from the eye piece. The distance
OF the paper and the amount of shifting
of the eye piece. will easily be determined
by little practice)
II a spot be seen upon the eastern limb
OF the sun to-day, by tomorrow It will
have changed its position a little nearer
10 the suns center. In about seven DAYS
1t Will pass the central line. and i'm seven
more 1t will disappear over the western
edge Very probably 1t will again be seen
IN fourteen days more. reappearing on
the eastern limb, which shows that. maxi
ing allowances for the earth's move.
ment, the sun revolves on it's axis In about
twenty-five days.
But the spots may break up" after a
few days, and utterly disappear although
on the average they last two or three
months. Some linger much longer. and
others live but a few hours
If spot be well developed IL will be
noticed with the telescope that when on
the limb of the sun II seems like a
notch" in the rim. 1t is very evidently
a depression in the solar surface. When
ii gets q little farther ION" il Is seen to
be black spot with a shading on the
farther side. When 1t is central the
cavity Is wide open, and the shading
Is seen all around the black center. which
is called the "umbra' The Shading"
which consists of fringe like hlaments. Is
termed the western limb the eastern sils
of the penumbra narrows and finally
closes. so there can be no doubt as to the
perspective. In moments Of excellent de-
finition the telescope shows a surprisingly
beautiful texture in the penumbra In
1873 Prof. Langley, then OF Allegheny OBJ
servatory, but now of the Smithsonian,