The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1898-12-13
WONDERS OF THE SUN
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT OUR
FIERY ORB OF DAY.

It's Dazzling Light and the Sub
stance From which 1t Proceeds.
The Elements which 1t Contains.
The SUMS diameter is 866, 600 miles.
rhis is about 109 times that OF the
earth, and is nearly twice that OF the
moons orbit.
Its volume of bulk is 1881, 600 times
That of the earth. Its weight, calculat-
ed from the strength of it's pull upon
the planets, is that of 327, 900 earths.
The SUMS mean or average distance
from us, according to the latest dtermi-
nations, is 90 700. 600 miles. Owing to
q slight ellipticity of the earths orbit
and the fact that the sun is not exactly
at it's center we are 5000, 900 miles
nearer the sun on the 1st of January
than on the 1st Of July.
Light. travelling at the rate of 1885,
900 miles second, requires 81 min
utes to come to us from the sun. A rail-
way train. speeding day and night at
the rate of so miles an hour, would
cover distance as great in l76 years.
The amount of heat radiated by the
sun every As minutes is equivalent to
that which would be generated by the
combustion of a chunk of the best an
thracite coal of the size of the moon.
If iavelin of ice 45 miles thick were
to be hurled at the sun by some titantic
arm, with the velocity of light, and
could the whole heat Of the sun be con-
centrated upon it, the weapon would
| melt as fast as it advanced.
The sun is 900, ZOO times as bright as
the full moon.
Sunlight has 146 times the intensity
Of calcium light and three times that of
the electric arc light.
The temperature Of the sun is now
thought to be somewhere between 8, 600
and 9, 900 degrees oentigrade.
| This temperature is sufficiently high
to vaporize all known substances. with
the possible exception Of carbon. For
this reason it is now held to be probable
that the light of the sun comes from
solid or liquid particles of carbon,
which float in it's otherwise gaseous
mass near its exterior. forming in their
aggregation the dazzling, cloudlike
shell known as the "photosphere.
The reason for thinking that the suns
light comes from intensely heated solid
or liquid matter, though undoubtedly
the great bulk of the suns mass is gas.
eous, is that the "spectrum" Of SUM-
light (formed by causing a beam Of
sunlight to pass through glass prism
is continuous is, it contains all
of the rainbow colors from red to violet,
and such spectrum is given only by
light from a glowing solid or liquid.
The spectrum of a glowing gas con
sists only of greater or less number o1
bright lines, the intervening spaces be
ing dark, each gas-or metal reduced
to the gaseous state-giving spectrum
peculiar to itself
Crossing the rainbow spectrum O.
sunlight are to be seen thousands of fin
dark lines. These lines are now know
to be due to the fact that above tn,
suns dazzling photosphere is an atmos
phere-about 5, 900 miles deep-mad
of various gases and vapors of metals
which stop or "absorb' part of tn
suns light in passage through them.
: These dark lines correspond in posi-
ton and intensity with the bright line
which form the spectra of various case
3 and metals and are undoubtedly cause
by the presence of these substances i
the suns atmosphere.
2 About one half of the 70 and NOR
"eIements" known to terrestrial chem
istry have been discovered by these in
= dications to exist in the sun, and al
. tronomers are confident that the rest {
the terrestrial elements are also ther'
though for some reason they have NJ
vet revealed themselves through tn
), spectroscope.
Some years ago astronomers wei
Z puzzled at finding evidence Of the 81
istence in the sun Of a substance appa
emily quite abundant, which oo1ld nj
= be identified by means of it's lines wit
r any known terrestrial element. The
named it helium.
Helium has lately been found to g:
n ist upon the earth as we'll as in the Sui
in the shape of gas which is contain
ed, absorbed, in certain rare minerals
cleveite, broggerite and few other
1t is somewhat heavier than hydroge
but is too light to remain in free sta
in the earth's atmosphere, just as l
hydrogen exists upon the earth in fr
De state, but only in compounds, Of whit
water is the most important.
~ Among the elements which have n
lg yet been found in the sun, though
hardly seems possible that they are n
thezes aTs gKRsA sulphur. pho.phoE!