EARTH'S TAIL

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 92, 19 April 1930, Page 16

EARTH'S TAIL

; ■Like..That.:Of CometThe ;earth has'a- tail like; that 'of a comet,':'but sh'ortor, and is. .continually losing the-gases-of : its atmosphere to keep this tail in existence, saysv an American writer. Such is *he startling conclusion reached by Carl Stromer, of Oslo, Norway, who. has spent much- -time studying ■the aurora ■ or "northern' lights" ■ sometimes Been. 1000 or 1500 miles, abovo; the ground. Dr. Stroniw',.. already knoivn ,-is tho world export on auroras, recently discovered radio echoes,- believed., to bo due to waves which leave tho earth and are reflected back from clouds of electrons or something else between t!i ■ earth and the sun. V 1 The only probable explanation of tho thqusand-milofhigh aurora; ■ which ha' haj observed, Dr. Strbmer bolievrs, is that sunlight shining on the earth drives off. into space billions of gas atoms from -tntj upper layers of the air..; These form the .earth's "tail," perhaps visible-to anyone in outer space as the tails of comets are seen, but invisible because of the lower denser layers of air..'.';. The high auroras are believed to be due to electric rays from the sun strikv iiiK, against this cometai'y tail and making it shine. If this is true, the earth must be losing atmosphere slowly but appreciably. How this loss of air is made up, or whether it is tnado up' at all, scientists have not been able, to ascertain. ■