HEAT OF THE SUN.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20828, 11 April 1933, Page 16

HEAT OF THE SUN.

VARYING ENERGY. EXPLANATION OF PREDICTED REDUCTION. The prediction that the sun will be colder for the next two years, made by Dr. Charles G. Abbott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, is probably based on his observations of the variations in the solar constant, Dr. C. Coleridge Farr, Professor of Physics at Canterbury College, explained to a reporter of "The Press" yesterday. Dr. Abbott's prediction, which also stated that it was possible that the earth might be affected in a way as yet unknown, appeared in a cable message from America, published in "The Press" yesterday. The solar constant, said Dr. Farr, was the amount of energy coming out of a square centimetre of the sun's surface a minute. It was an amount which varied slightly from year to year, and these variations would, of course, have their effect on the earth. Dr. Abbott, with the resources of the institute, had been measuring the variations in the solar constant for some years. Dr. Farr thought that, from a study of his observations, Dr. Abbott had found that the variations occurred in some sort of cyclic order, and on this his prediction would be based. There was no explanation of the cause of the variations, but if the constant was to become less, for a time, it would later increase. If the solar constant did become less, as was probably indicated by Dr. Abbott's observations, then the effect would be felt on the earth. "There is no reason to suppose," concluded Dr. Farr with a smile, "that the sun is going 'phut.'"