The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1908-11-21
WONDERS OF THE sun
Some Facts About That Colossal
Fiery Globe.
AN IDEA OF ITS GREAT SIZE.
Our Earth and Moon, as Far Apart as
They Now Are, Could Easily Move
Around In It's Flaming Interior-Some
of the Substances 1t Contains.

TO be seen after darkness is gone, both
with glass and unassisted eye. The
dear old moon often gives US a good
daylight view of herself, looking as if
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 ap
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
!, 300. 900 times as large as the earth. If
some great force could put us in the
center of that ultra mammoth globe,
and the moon also Creeping 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,S9T 600
miles, a very tedious little journey if
we could make it by customary meth
DDS. You can find plenty Of accounts
in books of how long it would take a
railroad train to get to it, and you can
ascertain it yourself by little figuring
You will learn, for instance, that lin
tied express travelling 1000 miles per
day would arrive at Sun station in
about 254 years, during which time
there would probably be a few deaths
on the train. If when the engine ar
rived it could give blast Of the wits
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 it proceeded at the
usual velocity of sound.
But the eye, most wonderful of con
veyances, 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 two
worlds
What Is the material Of which that
great fiery globe is composed? The
following substances have been detect
ed by the specuoscope and may be
considered as surely a part of it: Bari
um. calcium. chromium, cobalt, copper,
hydrogen, iron, magnesium, manga
nese. nickel. platinum, silicon. silver
sodium, titanium, vanadium. It is
thought that the following substances
are also there, although the proof
while strong. is not absolute: Alumni
um. cadmium, carbon, lead molybde-
nun, palladium. uranium and zinc. 1t
is a singular fact that gold has not yet
been discovered in this great golden
orb.
The fact that "all IS action, all IS mo-
ton" not only in "this world of ours. '
but throughout our entire universe, is
illustrated by the sun, for, while all the
planets of our system are revolving
around it. it is not itself still; it would
seem to be having a waltz of its own.
It turns on its axis. it has another mo-
ton about the center Of gravity of the
solar system. and, besides, it is on its
way. with its flock of planets, toward
some distant point in space at the
rate Of $50 miles per minute. These
facts and figures sound strange and
hardly believable. but they have been
demonstrated mathematically over and
over again by astronomers Of different
times and lands
One Of the most interesting things
TO be seen upon the sun is its spots.
for this great king of planets is not
entirely immaculate Some think these
are caused by cyclones, some that they
are eruptions from within the suns
surface. some by cool matter from me
teors falling into the hotter atmos-
phere. and this last idea would seem
the most sensible one. Such a great
flaming furnace as the sun apparent
" is. giving out life to n colony of plan
cts. must have food, and possibly the
great heat giving, life imparting crea-
ture may when spots appear be taking
/ its ratiOns.
These spots, often thousands of miles
in extent although they look so small
from earth, can many Of them be seen
with an opera glass, but it is neceS-
sary to combine the instrument with
smoked glass, which can be fastened
upon it with rubber bands either at the
| eye or view end.-Brooklyn Eagle.