SUNSPOTS APPEAR

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1934, Page 7

SUNSPOTS APPEAR

RECURRENCE OF SOLAR ACTIVITY. ASTRONOMERS SHOW INTEREST. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. - A development on the sun observed yesterday at the Kelburn observatory is of great astronomical interest. Sunspots appeared over a large area of the sun and there was great solar activity. For the last few months there has been a scarcity of sunspots and those that have been observed were small and feeble. This has been rather disappointing to solar workers as the period of maximum activity certainly commenced in October, 1933, when sunspots of high latitude were observed. Mr. I. I. Thomsen, director of the solar section of the New Zealand Astronomical Society, stated to-day that for the last two days there has been a small and apparently insignificant sunspot visible. There were also areas of intense faculae, which are reslly patches of highly luminous gas above the sun’s surface. To-day, however, the outburst of activity was clearly indicated. “Although the individual spots are not large and may appear insignificant to the unskilled observer, yet the fact that so many of them have appeared over such a large area of the sun within 15 to 20 hours gives evidence of the sun’s present active state,” Mr. Thomsen said. “Although there was only one spot yesterday, there are now three groups, containing eight, five and seven spots respectively. They stretch across the sun’s surface for a distance of 252,000 miles. Indications are that still greater activity may be expected and the sun will be keenly watched by members of the solar section of the New Zealand Astronomical Society and at the Kelburn Observatory.”