The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1918-03-28
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
Reasons for the PhenOmenn Which
Were Visible in this Latitude
Last Week Early in the
Night Not Rare Far
Their North.

were visible IN InlS lsst!Cuuo
Last Week Early In the
Night Not Rare Far
Their North.
(The following article was written
for The News-Press BY the Rev
ton Abbey. Conception. MOI
northern light, also called lied, aurora
day evening, March Z, from about
brilliant, may have elected from
many an inquisitive observer the
question: What is the cause =, OF
these myste tbess nes T to Iae
cord briefly the main, features OF
this unusual event, and 2, to render
the current scientific explanation.
l.. Directly in the north one
could observe distinctly the auroral
arch, extending from about 10 to
rs degrees above the he horizon auzta;n and 10
over tapping folds, from behind
which a bewildering play Of green
ish-red streamers appeared, rush
ing, shifting, dancing and shooting
forth like skyrockets to meet be
yond the zenith in a grand semi
Circular zone of streamers, Of from
Z
which extended east and west, from
horizon to horizon. Auroral dis
plays of such great magnitude,
where a belt of streanfers develops
to span the entire armament from
east to west, forming what is called
our latitudes. TO the, south and
north of the zenith crown along the
eastern and western horizon, other
streamers could be seen dartlng up
wards in fantastic color play and
finishing in the zenith crown with
deep crimson. :.
About $3.50 the zenith crown dis
completely with the exception OF a
few scattered, blurred patches Of
light to the east and west, to APP
pear again about fifteen minutes
late. 1t vanished completely and not
to form again until about o:4o. the
folded curtains OF dark gauzy tex
ture in the north, the streamers
flashing from behind and above it
and along the eastern and western
horizon, to the zenith crown, all APP
peared curved. In reality the. auro-
raj arch is composed of superlmpos-
cd bundles Of streamers, and these e.
above and at the eastern and west
ern side of it, which seemed to
meet in the zenith crown, are.
nevertheless, all vertical upon the
horizon. The apparent arching and
curving is due merely to perspective
vision, just as a searchllght Deanl,
or long straight cloud appears bent
when crossing the sky; or as a cloud
LAYER, known to be horizontal, APP
pears above us as great inverted
bowl.
The top Of the auroral arch from
which streamers were seen flasnlns
into the sky, has been estimated 70
fifty miles high, it being conduct ;t,
be explained further on. At that
elevation the atmospheric pressure
is only about 1900 Of an inch OF
mercury. The length OF the stream
ers in such conspicuous display as
we witnessed. is hundreds OF miles,
possibly 81 ~ l, ohssr or more so m'en
2. Concerning the explanation,
It must be said that until recently
this grand show OF natures staging,
which fills the young and old, the
learned and unlearned, from Ihe ICY
polar regions of the sluggish ESKIMO
to the civilized world Of our own lat
oination, has baffled the attempts OF
the greatest scientists to give a sat
isfactory explanation. But with the
discovery of many phenomena at
tending X-rays and wireless tele
graphy, also this seeming Wltchcra1t
Of nature has given up many GaiSnt o. the
That the northern light is closely
connected with the earth's magne-
tism and the activity of the sun, as
revealed by sun spots, has been per-
fectly proved. The ;. exhibition OF
the darling and shifting lights, tne
dark circles around the m hah;nd g
curtain, the leaping pillars OF the
aurora RISE" becomes most intense
during the years when the sun spots
appear most numerous on the sun S
disk. 1t is also during, those years
that the earh S magnetic neid pc
comes most violently disturbed !,es ssnpa tGir
storms" and electric earth currents;
The variation of the number ana
size of sun spots is periodic, that is
10 cav. every eleventh year the num-
Der and size reaches greatest val
ue. then decreases to least value
in about five and one-ha!f years
The year 1916 was year Of great
est sun activity, as measured by
ann snots. and it was in this year
1876 also, on Aug. &c and Aug.
Is. that quite exceptional northern
liKhts became visible all over the
north temperate ATTITUDES; me pc
ginning Of the year 1918 is there.
fore still very close to the period OF
y, sun spot maximum.
The earth is q huge magnet ,.ag'f 1.-the the
definite lines from magnetic norm
pole to magnetic south. pole, The
=. north magnet pole is located north
Of HUDSON Bay and vest sne o. Ba no1e
within the Atlantic Circle, some,
where between New Zealand and
2 the geographical south pole.
The northern light or .ss aurora "a
borealis is caused py dne pa sSarse "
called eiectrons. through the mag.
netie neld of the earth. The electric
charges (electrons) are thrown on
By the sun continually, but IN ., ex :
ceptionally great numbers during
tSesS terrific cyclones of hot metal