The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1908-10-14
WONDERS OF THE SUN
Some Facts About That Colossal
Fiery Globe.
AN IDEA OF ITS GREAT SIZE.

They Now Are, Could Easily Movs
Around In Its Flaming Interior-Soms
Of the Substances It Contains.
Astronomy does not always consist
of night studies There are some things
to be seen after darkness is gone, both
with glass and unassisted eye. The
dear old moon often gives Us good
daylight view of herself. looking as II
haggard. sleepy and Disguised after be
Ing out overnight. The star Venus has
often been seen In the afternoon. Some
comets are on record as having APP
preached so near the earth that the
same could be said of them for weeks
at time.
But of course the great day attrac.
ton Is the ruler of our own family of
brother and sister planets, the sun.
Although medium sized as com
pared to many of the fixed stars, our
sun Is no lightweight, being about
1900 900 times as large rs the earth. Ii
some great force could put us in the
center of that ultra mammoth globe,
and the moon also (keeping her at the
same distance from us as she now Isl.
and there was another moon nearly as
far away from her, the earth. and the
two moons and all the space between
them could still be contained In the
great, sparkling sun.
Its distance from US is 92,S9I 900
miles, very tedious little journey II
we could make 1t by customary meth
DDS. You can find plenty of accounts
in books of how long 1t would take a
raIlrgad train to get TO 1t, and you can
ascertain 1t yourself by little figuring.
You Will learn, for instance, that II linn
tied express travelling 1000 miles per
day would arrive at Sun station in
about 254 years. during which time
there would probably be few deaths
on the train. II when the engine ar
rived it could give blast of the whis-
tie loud enough to be heard here. the
people at this end of the line would
have to wait fourteen years before the
signal arrived If 1t proceeded at the
usual velocity OF SOUND.
But the eye, most wonderful of con
yeyances, can traverse all that dis
lance In between eight and nine min
utes. 1t takes that length of time
for light to pass between the tive
worlds.
What is the material Of which thai
great fiery globe Is composed? The
following substances have been detect
ed by the spectroscope and may bt
considered as surely part of IT. Bari
UNI, calcium. chromium, cobalt. copper
hydrogen, iron, magnesium. manga
nese. nickel, platinum. silicon, silver
sodium, titanium, vanadium. 1t !,
thought that the following substances
are also there, although the proof
while strong, is not absolute: Alumni
UNI, cadmium, carbon, lead, molybde
mum, palladium, uranium and zinc.
Is a singular fact that gold has not ye
been discovered In this great colder
orb.
The fact that "all Is action. all is mo
tion." not only in this world Of ours.
but throughout our entire universe. /
illustrated by the sun, for, while all tn
planets Of our system are revolvin,
around 1t, It is not itself still: 1t woul,
seem to be having a waltz of its own
1t turns on Its axis, 1t has another mo
ton about the center of gravity of tn
solar system, and. besides, 1t is on it
way, with its flock of planets. towar,
some distant point in space at tn
rate of 900 miles per minute Thes
facts and figures sound strange an,
hardly believable. but they have beel
demonstrated mathematically over an,
over again by astronomers OF differen
times and lands.
One OF the most Interesting thing
to be seen upon the sun is its spots
for this great king Of planets is no
entirely immaculate Some think thes
are caused by cyclones, some that the,
are eruptions from within the sun
surface, some by cool matter from me
teors falling into the hotter atmos
phere, and this last idea would seer
flaming furnace as the sun apparent
ly Is. giving out life to colony of plar
cts. must have food. and possibly tn
great heat giving. life imparting crea
ture may when spots appear be takin
its rations.
These spots, often thousands of mile
In extent although they look so sma
from earth, can many OF them be see
with an opera glass. but 1t Is nece.
sary to combine the instrument wit
smoked glass. which can be fastene
upon 1t with rubber bands either Mt til