The Solar Atmosphere

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 15, 16 April 1908, Page 19

The Solar Atmosphere

§9Sii3Si wesW find lf a^ ascending through an atmosphere „ "Kxuia- ™a a conttaraHy lncreasine; west wind S2 S wr c / n tH mOr f Vdol6n^ round &* earth™* Si we get. rtoe globe of the sun, rotating more and each low^r i a teake t Upon the atmospharto S? A Constant Expenditure lv tltlLtV»} Ot l 0n A 3 + f fl aS < the m '^ is complicated o,y tne tact that both the surface of the sun and its atmosphere rotate faster at the equator than, fn thf middle a nd poar latitudes, we cannot wonder a t the stupendous disturbances that occur there. A" £?, glimpse at a part of the mechanism of the great onl? && m .° ls^ oridef l to us, but what we leSte only just enough to make us wish for more. ~" dart°»i Ac « Sun ?* no o u day, with the aid of a ino * tJ ' an ' d S6 £ how calttl ant * peaceful its shine?L a F pearS " cn -' . reCallin S recent discoveries, imagine yourself visiting the su n in some kind of Ssr)he^ 00n f^ d d «<^£ through- that wonderful SSrfh p +t" - xs not ln the P° wer o£ language tO-£t 0 - £S lbe + /he scene ; it is hardly in the power &- the t m ?fS on to + plcture ** ! You would b e in vast fiery maelstroms and whirled and. pitched from one to another ; naw dropping with frightful velocity, as + L«/J d; now shot aloft > a 8" hur led from the throat of a monster volcano ; now rushed with resistless torce m one direction, and again the course- reversed. -v Hot Vapors of Iron. vapors of calcium, vapors of many metals would whip you hither and thither. Occasionally would oome iron* ueep beneath, shooting up thous a nds of miles in 5u m( " lu * e » tremendous rushes of metallic vapors from the body of the sun. These, possessing a slower rotational movement than the atmospheric layers through which,' they penetrated, would stand, for a while, like immense columns resisting the sweep of a flood The' blazing gases would swirl and , roar round them', stripping them, tearing them, dissipating them, carrying them away In great clouds of fire. In such a situation it would be impossible any longer .to thinlo of the sun, as it looks from the e a rth, quietly beaming with unvarying splendor, warming the summer landscapes and maMng the winter snow irrare beautiful with its steady beams. Remembering the braking effect of the lower rotation of the body of the sun, and of the- ascending col-

umns continually shot up from its surface, one wonf!tL fif " h « <solar a £ mos Phere can continue to revolve faster than the sun itself. It would seem that it . ougnt, long ago, to have been, compelled to- move all together, with the same mean angular velocity. That it does not do so is perhaps to be ascribed to. accessions of matter from without, continually dropping down nearer to the sun, and merging gradually into )us atmosphere. A mass of gas, or a cloud of meteors, circling, near the Sun, but not yet merged with its atmosphere, would revolve with planetary velocity, and would go around' the. sun .in less than, one day, while the average period of rotation of the sun aoad its .atmosphere is about- twenty-five days. The swiftly circulating matter outside the solar atmosphere as it continues to sink into that atmosphere may be the cause of i-ts acceleration at the higher levels. The practical bearing of all this is in the • light that it throws upon, the mechanism whereby the sun continues to heat,- " illuminate, electrify, and vivify the earth and the other planets.

Referring to the recent developments of the Blackball miners' dispute, in which the mem have poae out on strike, the Minister of Mines (the hon. j\Jl\ McGowaro) informed an Auckland press representative that the law must be carried out. The men aiay adopt a certain stiamd and 1 believ© that they are within their rights, Mr. McGowan saiid 1 , ' but the fine must be paid ; of that there is no possible question of a doubt, it is at present impossible to say wha/t the- developments- of the future will be, but the law' must be paramount, ami must be carried out. -No Government "can passively stand 'by and see the law defied. The public are apt to be hasty and 1 clamoa: for an- immediate settlement of a rather comjplex situation. This 5s not a matter however, which can be rushed through. It- may be taken for granted "that the Government will do what is right' in the Blackball case,- and the- first thing is to collect this money. What is more, there is no doubt that, the Government wri'll do it.' i

No 01-d-wooM success has been grander Than that of M|iss Lalla Miranda. She sang ' Rigoletto ' Without a falsetto, A champion singer they brand her ! - No voice could be truer, \ More clear or more pure (Her stand-by, we hear, is Woods' Peppermint "Cure!)