VORTICES IN THE SUN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14440, 5 February 1909, Page 5

VORTICES IN THE SUN

(From Ovit (rwx Cokrsspoxdext.) Febniary 4. The sunspots tceently observable have been of particular interest to local astronomers and to others as we.ll. It will, therefore, he iutt-reslin;r at the presentjuncture to note recent important discoveries in connection therewith bv Pro-ff-SMor 1-la.le at lite obscvvatotT on Mount Wilson, California. The. pi'ofmidity of lniiiia.il research is such liiat by means of the- ,s|)cclrunt and photograpliy important (iiscovcries haw quite recently' been made at the Mount observatory. Those observations are detailed in ' a copy of the liOKlon Times to hand by this mornings' mail.

Jim-hit; the progress of I] ■ researches it was soon notice] that the . ..rfaee detail of the sun was in process of very rapid change. Soiiiu very line photographs taken by LSJr Kllerman at the observatory clearly show a spii-;.! stvuctuie of the hydrogen filaments round the siinspoln. suggesting that suusnols are centres of attraction drawing towards them the hydrogen of the "sokr atmosphere. It has been known tlinUsinupot is ;i centre of cyclonic motion, but the cyclonic motion now discovered k not the same as that indicated by Lunjdey. It takes place in an elevated legion'of the sun's atmosphere, though, of course, the two phenomena may haw some connection. The recent observation.-; also have practically demonstrated .the existence of electrified particles in the sun which had been postulated a* probable by ot-hcr astronomers to explain the phenomena of the corona snd of comets tails. The conclusion is now plain that the hydrogen particles in the vortices are electrified. After reference to a splendid photograph, fiwrinK two large spots near the centre of the disc, each surrounded by a most conspicuous cyclone of hydrogen, the Times that the theory of an electrified sun is now no longer a mere <jue.=s, but may be taken as a dt.moiiMral<>d fact. W-hilo it is too soon to trace this result to all its conclusions, there is little doubt that such conclusions will be far-reach-ing.

In particular, the discovery seems to render more intelligible the ir.limate connection that exists between sunspot activity and activity on tie earth. The connection has been lorg known • to exist, but its nature was a mvsrterv,