Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-09-17
THAT RED SUN, ITS CAUSE.
How Scientists Explain the pheuom-
enon-soInr Eruptions Of Ex-
ceptionnI Magnitude.
(Boston Transcript

tBoston ITanscrfpt)
why "a the sun red, and the moon
so tnged with copper, More no.
tlceable. perhaps, is the fact that the
temperature and humidity are run
ing peculiarly high for the season. while
the days as a rule, are hazy and gloomy.
It all is conductive to speculation and
Is discussed among all classes with more
or less enlightened Intelligence The ex-
plantations closest at hand come from
the astronomers and meteorologists. and
give recognition to the common theory
that the forest fires are contributory
to the unusual atmospheric conditions.
Astronomers. however, readily connect
the situation with the present solar ac-
tivity commonly referred to as sun spots
of which the general public has seen
evidence in an exceptional frequency and
brlliancy OF auroral displays
Northern lights have occurred so often
In the last three weeks that they have
attracted much attention. and even the
layman has suspected some connection
between them and the colored veil that
seems to Ice drawn over tho sun and the
moon. or course there ia no authority
for assuming any rela tonship between
these auroral displays and the forest
fires, though the two may bear Joint
relation TO the atmospheric conditions.
Naturally the theory that the forest
fires have created the atmospheric com
position which gives the heavenly bodies
their unnatural colors has it's strongest
supporters in the office of the United
States weather bureau, where 1t Is gen
orally accepted that dense volumes Of
smoke will rise high into the air and
spread ont so widely uat even the west
ern fires would be likely to contribute
to the conditions now observed in New
England But New England has had
great fires of her own In the last few
weeks and certainly has sent up a large
proportion OF the smoke that Is sus-
pended in the air
Those who have taken an interest
In this subject may remember the aw-
full days In August, 1883 when the Kraka-
toa in the East Indies broke into its
days was hurting its Interior into the
air. The laval dust created then, fine
as flour, was blown all over the world
and the only explanation ever found for
the red sunsets Of those days. That dust
had the same general effect Of Interior
ing with the radiation OF solar impulses
as is attributed TO smoke; hence 1t is to
be expected that the smoke from the
forest fires will cast Its veil over the
sun and moon and give them the same
appearance that they sustained from the
laval dust.
The sun spots are exerting their in
fuence on the temperature and it is
significant that the temperature is high
all over the country at the present
time. John Richie, jr of the Boston
board of health has been a close oh
server of the phenomena of the last
two or three weeks He says that two or
three groups of spots We're noticed by
astronomers. these spots representing
tremendous disturbances on the sun. such
as come in cycles of eleven or twelve
years. In places favorable for observa-
ton the auroral displays, or mort hern
lights usually attending the solar erup-
tions. have been particularly beautiful.
The aurora boreal.s has been of the
has been seen here and in New Hamp-
shire and Vermont. At times It has been
observed to cover the whole horizon.
puNII uiSpIdSS are likely 10 De repeated
for some time.
Shorn OF the scientific reasoning
through which the astronomers come
to their deductions, the explanation OF
the existing heat wave, which com
bines with the forest fire smoke to give
Il strange color TO the sun and moon.
is that II is generated largely by the
frequent solar eruptions into which II
planet Of the size Of the earth would
sink like 4 pebble In the ocean. Some
how the activities create an extra strata
high up In the air that influence radia-
ton materially. so the earth's atmo-
sphere mast be warm and gloomy: the
sun and moon must be red, and there
must be auroral displays