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Article SOLAR SPOTS. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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Solar Spots.
Such is Sir John ' s illustration , founded on his father ' s hypothesis ; and it certainly so far seems to meet the observed phenomena . Some future Rossean detector may , however , yet explode it , like the famous Nebular hypothesis . Up to the present date , I have only one more spot to record , in addition to those already noted , making in all , six spots , or groups of spots , apparent to the unaided optics . This last was also a very extensive
condensed cluster , one large black spot preceding the rest . It had arrived near the centre of the sun , ( some degrees south ) on the 29 th of July , at 2 h . 10 m ., when 1 first was able to recognize it with the naked eye . I saw it again on the 31 st . Further south of this cluster , was an extremely long succession of branching spots , part of which were visibly connected by umbra and shallows , but not dense enough to be descried without telescopic aid . The track of their course was enormous .
Such is a summary of a few facts that have come under , my notice , as a casual observer ; a more detailed description would have been tedious , and not easily apprehended without the adjunct of diagrams or drawings . The record may interest a few , or direct attention to those singular phenomena . In closing , I may remark , that notwithstanding the prevalent adoption of the Herschelian hypothesis , the theory of igneous agency , or volcanic actionstill obtainsnot unnaturallysome support : and it
, , , is on such , or similar grounds , 1 presume , that a distinguished investigator , Sir J . W . Lubbock , Bart , has recently thrown out a hint , that those curious bodies , called shooting stars , and even comets , may possibly owe their origin to the explosive forces in apparent operation on the sun ' s surface : and it eertainly would be a remarkable circumstance , if ,
as the learned author suggests , by calculating the perturbations of some comet for the past , having a small perihelion , it were to be traced back to its origin , and the very year ascertained when it left the solar mass . Supposing such to be the source of these revolving meteors , or shooting stars , one would be apt , reasoning a priori , to conclude , that the more frequent and large the solar spots were , the more numerous ought the shooting stars to be . I know not if there be sufficient data to ascertain whether this is the case : but in 1836 M . Arago obtained 445
simulta-, neous observations of shooting stars , in France alone , during the night of the 12 th and 13 th of November ; and in 1837 and 1838 many such meteors were seen in Britain and abroad . Now the years 1836 and 1837 were remarkable for the occurrence of groups of very large spots , thirteen of which , Sir John Herschel has delineated in his great work . One of these , seen on the 19 th of March , 1837 , occupied an area of nearly five minutes , equal to 3 , 780 , 000 , 000 square miles ! The author of "
Celestial Scenery" also mentions a spot or group , which , on the 19 th of October , 1836 , measured 41 , 000 miles in length , by 16 , 300 in breadth , having within its area , room for ten globes as large as our earth . Thus far , a correspondence between the times of apparition seems to occur , though such coincidences alone , it must be confessed , are very vague proofs as to establishing a relation between the phenomena in question . I am not awarewhether the myriatls of meteorsor showersas they are called
, , , , of shooting stars , observed in America and elsewhere , in 1831 , and the succeeding year , were preceded or accompanied by extraordinary solar disruptions . If they were , the hypothesis might gain a further proof . But the truth is , we are scarcely in a condition to frame any very just theories either of the origin of the solar spots , or of the shooting stars . Much has yet to be achieved ere we can get even a glimmering of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Solar Spots.
Such is Sir John ' s illustration , founded on his father ' s hypothesis ; and it certainly so far seems to meet the observed phenomena . Some future Rossean detector may , however , yet explode it , like the famous Nebular hypothesis . Up to the present date , I have only one more spot to record , in addition to those already noted , making in all , six spots , or groups of spots , apparent to the unaided optics . This last was also a very extensive
condensed cluster , one large black spot preceding the rest . It had arrived near the centre of the sun , ( some degrees south ) on the 29 th of July , at 2 h . 10 m ., when 1 first was able to recognize it with the naked eye . I saw it again on the 31 st . Further south of this cluster , was an extremely long succession of branching spots , part of which were visibly connected by umbra and shallows , but not dense enough to be descried without telescopic aid . The track of their course was enormous .
Such is a summary of a few facts that have come under , my notice , as a casual observer ; a more detailed description would have been tedious , and not easily apprehended without the adjunct of diagrams or drawings . The record may interest a few , or direct attention to those singular phenomena . In closing , I may remark , that notwithstanding the prevalent adoption of the Herschelian hypothesis , the theory of igneous agency , or volcanic actionstill obtainsnot unnaturallysome support : and it
, , , is on such , or similar grounds , 1 presume , that a distinguished investigator , Sir J . W . Lubbock , Bart , has recently thrown out a hint , that those curious bodies , called shooting stars , and even comets , may possibly owe their origin to the explosive forces in apparent operation on the sun ' s surface : and it eertainly would be a remarkable circumstance , if ,
as the learned author suggests , by calculating the perturbations of some comet for the past , having a small perihelion , it were to be traced back to its origin , and the very year ascertained when it left the solar mass . Supposing such to be the source of these revolving meteors , or shooting stars , one would be apt , reasoning a priori , to conclude , that the more frequent and large the solar spots were , the more numerous ought the shooting stars to be . I know not if there be sufficient data to ascertain whether this is the case : but in 1836 M . Arago obtained 445
simulta-, neous observations of shooting stars , in France alone , during the night of the 12 th and 13 th of November ; and in 1837 and 1838 many such meteors were seen in Britain and abroad . Now the years 1836 and 1837 were remarkable for the occurrence of groups of very large spots , thirteen of which , Sir John Herschel has delineated in his great work . One of these , seen on the 19 th of March , 1837 , occupied an area of nearly five minutes , equal to 3 , 780 , 000 , 000 square miles ! The author of "
Celestial Scenery" also mentions a spot or group , which , on the 19 th of October , 1836 , measured 41 , 000 miles in length , by 16 , 300 in breadth , having within its area , room for ten globes as large as our earth . Thus far , a correspondence between the times of apparition seems to occur , though such coincidences alone , it must be confessed , are very vague proofs as to establishing a relation between the phenomena in question . I am not awarewhether the myriatls of meteorsor showersas they are called
, , , , of shooting stars , observed in America and elsewhere , in 1831 , and the succeeding year , were preceded or accompanied by extraordinary solar disruptions . If they were , the hypothesis might gain a further proof . But the truth is , we are scarcely in a condition to frame any very just theories either of the origin of the solar spots , or of the shooting stars . Much has yet to be achieved ere we can get even a glimmering of the