The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-08

great reservoir of electric energy-the
sun. Mr.. Packer has, since July last,
been photographing the suns corona
in broad daylight. The results of this
photography are said to be so remark
able that Mr.. Packer has withheld
them from the public till this late date
that he might test them thoroughly:
and 1t is not until now. when he is con-
WINGED that his discovery is a real one,
that he makes announcement of Ii to
his brother astronomers.
The suns corona, as is well known,
can be seen only during total solar
eclipses, when it shines out i'm soft, sill
very beams all around the dark body
of the moon as she crosses the sun S
disk. 1t has been the hope of astrono-
mers that some way of effectively
blocking out the suns glare might be
discovered. so that il might be seen or
photographed in ordinary times; but
till recently all such efforts have met
with little success. Now, apparently,
Mr.. Packer has succeeded.
The method is simple enough. 1t has
long been known that thin metal foil
or metal films deposited on glass, will
let strong light through, though in or
binary thicknesses the metals are ex-
tremely Opaque. Parker has now dis
covered that the rays that do succeed
in getting through are the photograph
&c rays. in which the corona is very
rich. while the solar disk, with all its
glare, has relatively few of them. He.
therefore, simply photographs the sun
through one of these films, and gets a
picture of what no mortal eye can see
solar corona in broad daylight.
The Importance of this to astrono-
ha INN cir uha fo
known that they have not yet decided
what the corona is. Probably most of
them agree that IL is an envelope of
very thin matter surrounding the sun,
and shining either by reflected light or
electrically. But it is hard to find out
anything about a thing that can be
seen clearly only once in two or three
years, and then for but a few seconds.
Now, however, the corona and its
changes can be observed from day to
day, and probably Mr. Packer has seen
more of it i'm the past few months than
have all the other astronomers of the
world since the dawn of time.
Packers first photographs were taken
with a camera, of four-inch aperture.
through screens of tin and lead foil and
sheet copper. Later he substituted a
pin-hole for the camera lens, with great
advantage. He made three or four pic
lures at a time, some with the lens,
and some with the pin-hole, and the
close agreement of detail showed that
the pictures were real. not the result
of some reflection or refraction In his
instrument This was an important
point to prove, since his brother as
tronomers would be sure to suggest
that such remarkable results were
probably reliable.
The photographs thus taken show
that the streamers of the corona are
very closely connected with sun-spots.
Every sun-spot has its own ray; wher-
ever a prominent ray shoots out in the
corona, a big sun-spot is sure to be
found at the bottom of il. The corona
changes. too, with the number of sun
spots. This accounts for the confiic-
tory accounts of observers at eclipses.
no two of whom ever saw the corona
of the same shape and size. The rea-
son is now seen to be that its shape
and size depend on the sun-spot from
which its rays spring. Many of the
most prominent rays are twisted or
spiral-a surprising fact, never before
noted, and at present inexplicable.
But the most interesting part OF the
new discovery is the announcement
that IL definitely proves the corona to
be electrical i'm its nature. II this Is
so. every sun-spot must be a vast GEN.
ter of electrical disturbance. sending
out visible rays into space. The SINH
larity of these to the much talked Of
cathode rays will at once attract at
tention. and the announcement of the
discovery. coming as il does. close upon
Professor Rontgen's. is something OF
coincidence
Many astronomers have long believed
the coronal streamers 10 be electric,