SUN SPOTS PHENOMENA

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1081, 19 September 1930, Page 10

SUN SPOTS PHENOMENA

DISCOVERY OF NEW PLANET DISCOUNTED LECTURE BY MR. F. R. FIELD An explanation of the phenomena of sun-spots with the laws governing them, and the recently reported discovery of a new planet, were mentioned by Mr. F. R. Field last evening in a lecture on “Secrets of the Sun.” The address was the second delivered under the auspices of the F. R. Field Scientific Research Society. A sceptical viewpoint was taken by Mr. Field concerning the new planet reported to have been discovered recently. Until 1846, he said, the furthest known planet was Uranus. Irregularities in its movement led to the discovery by two astronomers of the planet Neptune. Much smaller irregularities in the movement of Neptune had presupposed the existence of another planet beyond this again. On January '2l last a very faint body beyond Neptune had been observed, and on March 14 a Harvard professor had announced the discovery as that of a new planet. Air. Field agreed with the Greenwich observers that it was only an asteroid of which there were many in the universe, one of which, Eros, would pass close to the earth next year. Dealing with the sun, the lecturer gave some interesting details concerning its size, shape and construction. Long observation of sun-spots bad convinced him that these occurred in regular sequence, and in -accordance with certain definite laws. The complete cycle lasted about 11 years, and great solar activity could be expected in about three years’ time. The apparently erratic movements of the sun-spots were accounted for by the law of differential rotation which Mr. Field had dealt with in a previous lecture. Some of the sun-spots moved at the rate of 4,002 miles art hour. In concluding. Mr. Field stated that as a result of his observations he had deduced a formula, which satisfactorily explained all sun movements, and by the tise of which future movements could l>e predicted. This latter lie had been able to do with remarkable accuracy, publishing his predictions in The Sun. The lecturer was warmly thanked for his address.