The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau,
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, d. C.
STUDYING THE SUN.

STUDYING THE SUN.
Washington. D. c., June 6.-One of
the loneliest scientific jobs in the
world is that of the two men repre-
sdenting the Smithsonian institution
who spend all of their time at the new
solar observatory which has just. been
established on Mount Harqua Hala in
Arizona. 1t is the same observatory
which has been located for SO many
years on Mount Wilson in California,
and was removed to Arizona because
the scientists there have a greater
number of days clear enough for the
study of solar radiation.
The nearest neighbor to this new
scientific outpost is a prospector, and
he is a mile away. His three burros
furnish the only transportation which
can reach the observatory. The little
town of Wenden is sixteen miles way
and several thousand feet below. The
scientists order their groceries once
in two weeks by, signalling with the
| heliograph-that is. with flashes of
sunlight thrown by a mirror-using
the Morse code.
Arizona, the Smithsonian institution
now maintains another one in the
Chilean Andes. about eight miles from
| the town OF Calama, and $500 feet
above sea level. This also was estab-
| lished in its present location within
the past year. 1t is said to be the
best place in the world for the OBJ
tservation of solar radiation, because
i the sky is clear on so per cent of The
days. In the Arizona location it is
| clear on about 20 per cent of the days.
From these two stations the scien-
lists expect to gain most important
| information concerning solar radia-
| ton. and especially concerning its ef-
| feet upon the weather It seems to
| have been established that the amount
of heat which the sun gives off varies
| from time to time, and there is a
strong presumption that by studying
| these variations, changes in the
weather can be predicted with a new
| certainty, and perhaps much farther
| advance than now.
Tho Worlds Power Plant.
This study of the sun is not, how
| ever, undertaken solely for the pur-
| pose of improving our method OF
| forecasting the weather. 1t is a gen.
eral investigation of the activities of
| the sun. If you are a practical
| minded person, who sees little use in
| any scientific investigation that has
not an immediate practical applica-
| ton, you may consider that these
| scientists on their remote mountain
tops are engineers observing the cen
trail heating plant which operates the
world.
| No one knows much about that
| great heating plant, which furnishes
the world with light and power. Dur
ing the comparatively brief period of
which men have record, it has proved
fairly satisfactory, With minor varia-
| Hons, it has delivered always about
the same amount of heat at the same
time of the year at the same place.
| SO that men could plant their crops
with a reasonably good chance of
| harvesting them. Yet there is plain
| geological evidence that the climate
Of the earth has varied in terrible
way during the past few million years.
There have been two long periods in
| which it grew much colder, so that a
| large part of the earth was covered
| with ice. This has been explained by
the scientists on the ground that the
earth shifted in its orbit so that it
received less heat from the sun.
The point is that the sun is not the
reliable thing you imagine it to be.
| 1t is nothing but a great hot coal,
slowly burning itself out. At least, it
must be burning itself out, and the
scientists assume that ultimately 1t
will burn out entirely, leaving us in
the dark and cold, unless it collides
with some other body, thus getting a
new supply of fuel. Then it might
get too hot and fry us all.
These little contingencies are all a
few trillion years in the future, and
are nothing to worry about. But
nevertheless the sun is supremely
worth studying right now. If an in
telligent being could come here from
another planet, he would probably
wonder that we spent such an enor-
nous amount of money inventing guns
and gases with which to get ourselves
killed, and SO little money in study
pend.
The Mysterious Sun Spot.
For one thing, there are the sun
= spots. These are cloudy places over
the sun, cutting off some of its light
. and heat from us, which are believed
by scientists to be due to the col
| lection of gases at certain points. II
is believed that these sun spots have
marked effect upon the earth in
some way. For example, the aurora
borealis, which recently got SO much
, publicity, occurs in connection with
sun spots and is believed to be caused
! by them. 1t is an electrical phenome-
non. The recent display of the aurora
charged the air so heavily that tele-
> graphs and cables were affected, and
many believed that human beings
were affected, too. 1t is quite possible
that the sun spots have a good deai
to do with the way you feel on giver
morning. 1t may be that wher
; science has studied the matter ade-
= quately, all human activities will be
/ ISSu4dleu ldESSIy IN dCCoEudnC6 WIZ
the condition of the sun spots. Some
l years ago a scientist attracted a good
, deal of attention by claiming that ht
could predict the price of wheat b.
the sun spots.
Meantime. the weather bureal
states that 1t cannot trace any con
. nection between the sun spots and TIL
weather. It admits that sun spot
have something to do with the aurors
e and terrestrial magnetism, but say
/, t''the nature of these relations is com
: pick and more or less unknown