Evening star., 1935-04-25
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The moon, after all, has something
to do with weather.
Every day, on an average, 1t pro-
duces temperature change of about
one-fiftieth of a degree Fahrenheit.
The curious relationship has just
been announced by the Carnegie In
stitution of Washington. based on the
observed atmospheric temperatures at
Batavia. Java, for every hour of the
day and night for 60 years.
Over the course of many centuries
this lunar -barometric temperature
variation''-as the newly discovered
effect is called-may have important
effect on climates although the rela-
tionship at present is very obscure. 1t
is all due to the tide-raising effects OF
the moon. The effect is something like
that Of an air pump.
There are tides raised in the atmos-
phere by the moon, just as there are
tides raised in the sea. Just like the
sea tides. they ebb and flow. When
the air tide rises naturally the atmos-
pheric pressure is decreased. When
it falls the pressure is increased. When
an automobile tire is pumped up the
temperature rises. When the air es-
capes the temperature falls. And this
is just what happens to the atmos-
phere. Over a period of go years. says
the Carnegie Institution report on
the work of DR.. j. Bartels, one OF its
research associates. this slight change
triumrhs over the large but erratic
efforts of hot and cold waves.
In connection with the same sta
tistical research on meteorological
phenomena Dr. Bartels found that
magnetic storms-those curious elec-
trical disturbances in the atmosphere
which cause compass needles to dance
and the Northern Lights to flash-tend
to recut at intervals of q days, the
period of the rotation OF the sun on
its axis.
The reason for this terrestrial effect
of the suns rotation, DR.. Bartels be-
lieves, lies in the fact that once every
q DAYS the solar body turns toward
the earth the face on which sunSpots
are most abundant. These emit some
form of radiation which changes the
electrical pattern of the earth's atmos-
phere. That there is relation be-
tween the earth's magnetic field ana
sunspots is we'll known, the magnetic
storms being greatest at times OF SUM-
spot maximums.
Once the sun may have exploded
with the result that it has planetary
system which includes the earth.
Such is one of the deductions OF
DR.. Gustaf Stromberg of the staff OF
the Carnegie Institution of Washing
ton from intensive study of the So
called "novae"-new stars which flash
up in the heavens at intervals and
then sink to invisibility. One of the
most notable of these was the new
star" observed last Winter in the
constellation of Hercules, which, COM
ing at Christmas, was interpreted by
some as q return of the star of Beth
lehem.
Possible causes for such phenom-
enon are described by DR.. Strom-
berg:
ings may come very close together,
and even if they do not collide the
encounter may cause a violent dis
turbance in the huge masses OF gas.
"a star may also pass through a
relatively dense cloud of gas or dust
and the friction may cause an in
crease in the surface temperature.
Any such action might upset the
equilibrium in the star between the
gravitational pressure, on the one
hand, and the gas pressure and radia-
ton pressure on the other.
Another possibility Is that the
rate at which heat is generated in
the interior Of star is for some rea-
son or other increased and the lid
is blown off, We do not know what
determines this rate. The heat must
certainly come from sub-atonic pro-
cesses and these, as yet, are very In
completely understood.
There have been great dimcultiea