The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-09-10
SPOTS ON THE sun.

1898 a light cloud of mist suddenly COW
cred the face of the sun, abstractins
the beams perllous to the eye and pro-
viding a singularly fine definition of
the usually dazzling disk. No one who
looked at the pleasing spectacle could
have failed to perceive a pronounced
blot on the otherwise fair surface 1t
was a "sun spot" group Of extraordin-
airy size, covering an area of at least
70O0,O00O0O square miles, and furnish
ing hint of the suns immensely, for
it's larger diameter was not one-eighth
nor it's smaller diameter one-twelfth
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 Flow
cry Kingdom" of faraway China, there
were mist clouds and sharp eyes, as is
evinced by records of sun spots written
in the battling characters of a most
remarkable alphabet,
And nearer our own time, in A. d.
SO7, European observers saw a large
spot which was supposed to be the
planet Mercury But, like the little
worlds which roam in space between
the orbits 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 Fabri-
! cius announced in 1911 that he had
| found dark spots on the SUM- he agi-
tated the prevailing schools of philos-
| ophy to the depths, for all such singu-
lar appearances had been attributed to
the transits of planets. The great
name of Galilei is associated with the
| discovery, and that mental giant claim
| ed to have seen spots earlier even than
Fahricius. Still another Independent
| discovery was made by Scheiner.
Galilei and Fabricius saw that the
| spots are objects on the suns surface,
carried along by the rotation of the sun
on it's axis. For a brief while Schein-
er supposed them to be planets, but he
finally accepted Galilei's views. And
| (here is hint to the wise) he deviced
the excellent plan of viewing the spots
| by throwing the image of the sun, pro-
cured by his telescope, ON a screen.
| If spot be seen upon the eastern
limb Of the sun to-day, by tomorrow It
will have changed its position little
nearer to the suns center. In about
| = ~
and in seven more it will disappear
over the western edge. Very probably
/ it will again be seen in fourteen days
more, reappearing on the eastern limb,
| which shows that, making allowance
for the earths movement. the sun re-
wolves on its axis in about twenty-five
days.
But the spots may "break up" after
a few days and utterly disappear, al
though on the average they last two
or three months. Some linger much
longer, and others live but a few hours.
If a spot be well developed, it will be
lnoticed with the telescope that when
on the limb of the sun 1t seems like a
notch" in the rim. It is very evident
lily depression in the solar surface.
When 1t gets a little farther ION" it
is seen to be black spot with a shad-
ing on the 1ufther slae. Wneh u y
central the cavity is Wlde open, ana
the shading Is seen all around the
black center, Whlchtls called tne UNI
bra. Inc shadlng' Whlch consists
OF tflngellke HlalneEts, IS Termed the
! 'penumbra. AS the spot approaches
thew estern limb the eartern SIDE OF the
lpenumbra narroWs, and finally closes,
SO there can pc no DOUBT as 10 the
perspective. In moments OF excellent
definition the telescope shows 9, sur
pr1s1ngly peautlful texture IN the pc
numbra. In 1873 Professor Langley,
then OF Alleghany observatory, put now
OF the Smithsonian, MADE a drawing OF
a "typIcaf' sun spot, Whlcn Will We'll
Prepay study Sometimes there are
or dazzling lines of light gently creep
ing or flashing across the stupendoue
depths of the umbra, and even the
creeping must be at rate OF speed
compared with which the widest cy-
clone Of earth would be but the gentle
breathing of an infant.
| Once two observers, miles apart, hap
pening to be studying the sun at the
same moment, saw an outburst at the
| edge of a great spot and two objects
shaped like new moons" about 5000
by 1000 miles, far brighter than the