The times., 1897-12-15
RIDICULEO BY SCIENTISTS
New World Theory Of the Great
Sun SpOtS.
TIE EARTH NOT ENDANGERED
Prof. Rees Says 1t Is Not known
That They Have Any Connection
with terrestrial Phenomena-A 4
Scientific Explanation of Ties
Solar Demons lrations.

New York, Fec. 14.-Prof. wiiliam R.
Brooks,o OF Smith Observatory, Of this .'uate,
reports tie discovery oftwo groups Of spots
on the sun approaching the center 81 the
disk.
The publication OF the statement has
caused some sensational rapers to char
acterize these spots as Immense earth
destroyers that are dancing in space ith
no known objective points, and one #
them quoted from Revelations vii. 20 sus-
tain the fearful predictions it made.
THAT IS all nonsense" said Prof l"hn
K Rees, of Columbia University. Special
students OF tie sun have long studied
what are tie effects OF sun spots on the
earth. Nc idea tas yet been reached o.
what the proper effect is. These ttudies
OF the sun are stUwn by well authrnti
Gated records TO have been begun as
early a 1910, while in China the records
20 back many, many years before that
time. Today all the leading Ubservltories
daily tax G photographs OF the sundnd keep
an accurate record.
The idea that sun spots break away
from the suns surface and are launched
iutu spaceis simplya creation Of the nrain
uf tie writer.
.'Th,s spots are believed by most as
truunuers 10 be cavities or depressions in
the phctosphere filled with gasses and
yapors which are cooler than the sur
rounding portions and therefore absorb
considerable proportion of light. The
fact that they are cavities is shown b.
the change in the appearance Of spot as
il approaches the edga of the disk. When
a normal spot is near the center of the disk
the nucleus is nearly central. As it ap-
proaches the edge the penHmbra becomes
wider or the outer edge and narrower on
the inner and just before the spot disap
pears around the limb Of the sun the pen I'M
bra on the inner edge disappears. the APP
pearance teing precisely such as would be
shown by a aucer-shaped cavity in the
surface Of q globe.
The diameter OF the umbra Of 4 sun
spot ranges az the wa from 800 TO 900
miles for q very small one to 10000 or
10000 miles in the case of large ones.
The rengmhra surrounding a grolp Of
spots is sometimes $50 900 miles across,
Though that would be ratheran exceptional
4
about 100000 Not infreQuentIy sun
spots are large enough to be seen By the
mixed eye, and they have been often so
seer. at sunset or through a fog.
The depth by which the umbra is de-
pressed below the general surface or tie
photosphere is very difficult to determine,
but it seldom exceeds $500 miles and is
ortener between 500 and 1000 miles.
THE duration OF a SPOT varies: sometimes
it lasts few da VS., and sometimes Il
month CT two. The spots never show
themselves near the poles OF the sun, but
find their greatest development about 10
degrees north or south Of the suns equa
tor.
III has been proved that the mum
ber OF spots goes through periodic
changes. increasing TO q maximum and
drcrea sing 10 a minimum. During the
letter weeks often pass without the ap-
paarance Of a single spot, and during the
furmar the surface or the sun is aev,r free
from spots, ana from twenty-five 10 fifty
are frequently visible at once.
There was spot-m Xiluun in
1883 s4," added Prof. Rccs, "and an
other about eleven years later. \ mini
mum period occurred ia 1883, and We gre
now near another.
ITO prove d Connection between sun
spots and terrestrial phenomena is now th5
great question. Some astronomers believe
that the Uerres Il iaI influence is to be Sc en-
inma gne5Ic storms that occur on the earth $
surface. Violent disturbances on the sun (
surface have been Immediately followed
at times hv brilliant exhibitions of the
aurora bcrealiS. other astronomers do not
consider the Connection to be proved. Still
others have attempted to show connection
between the spots and the temperature
the barometric pressure and the rainfall On
the earth 1t is not quite certain thai tn ere
is any influence whatever excited by sul
spots on terrestrial weather
"Sun spots have nothing TO do with thu
birth OF worlds" said Prof. Haorld Jacoby
who joined Prof. Rees. NO new ones are
being born. Some Of these spots are ol
Pastoff. May "a, 1928, was computed UC
have an area about four times the entire
surface OF the earth. In June, SAB,
Schwahe observed one $4,000 miles il
diameter. 1t was seen for an entire week
without the aid Of a telescope. on March
1853, the day Of the celebrated eclipse a
spot having a breadth from west to EAST
tention. on September 30, 1883, another
was seen having a breadth from west tC
east Of / - 600 miles. There is no cause
for albIn iu sun spots"