SOLAR UPHEAVAL AND MAGNETIC STORM. ■ 511 



SOLAR UPHEAVAL AND MAGNETIC STORM. 



EDGAR L. LARKIN, NEW WINDSOR OBSERVATORY. 



The doubts that lingered in the minds of astronomers relating to the sym- 

 pathy supposed to exist between solar and terrestrial phenomena wherein mag- 

 netic and electrical forces are concerned are in a fair way to be removed. The 

 present year has been one of solar upheaval and terrestrial disturbance. On 

 April 1 6th there was an electric storm and an Aurora on the earth, and an ap- 

 palling cyclone on the Sun. The great abyss in the solar surface was watched 

 at this observatory for a period of ten hours on that eventful day, and all remem- 

 ber the auroral display of the evening. And now there is a repetition of the 

 same phenomena, with greater activity. 



The daily press of November 1 7 was burdened with accounts of widespread 

 magnetic disturbance, in some places suspending telegraphic manipulation. 



The area of electric turbulence extended, so far as is reported, from New 

 York to Yankton, and from Nashville to Winnepeg. And the Atlantic cable 

 was a in state of unrest, so that doubtless the disturbing magnetic waves reached 

 Europe. At Milwaukee carbons in an Edison vacuum lamp were rendered incan- 

 descent by electric currents flowing in from the atmosphere. At other points switch- 

 boards were set on fire and keys melted in telegraph offices, while in Nebraska 

 electric balls were seen on the wires. Auroral displays of great intensity were- 

 observed at many places separated by wide distances, and by reports from the 

 northern portion of the United States one cannot fail being impressed the with 

 magnitude and duration of the electric undulations. 



On Wednesday, November 15th, after an interval of cloudy weather,* we se- 

 cured a view of the Sun at noon. An enormous spot was at once seen already 

 advanced on the eastern solar limb twenty-four degrees. It was evidently in a 

 state of excessive turbulence, since none of the tongues of fire were straight, all 

 were twisted, crossed, and contorted in every conceivable shape. The edges of 

 the chasm were notched and indented in all possible forms. The "willow 

 leaves" — ^jets of fire assuming leaf-like appearances — seemed to be sliding down- 

 ward from the level surface of the sun along inclined planes leading to the black 

 edges of the central nuclei, and in many cases projected over them, presenting a 

 scene like fiery streams bending into a cavern of impenetrable darkness. The 

 spot was broken by "bridges" of flame into three divisions, the central one be- 

 ing evidentaly in rotation about an axis — a radius of the Sun prolonged. This 

 belief is sustained because all striae, rifts, and granulations on the penumbra — 

 the incline alluded to — were bent about in such direction and in such manner 

 as would be caused by centrifugal force. Soon clouds obscured the Sun, termin- 

 ating the observation before we had time to measure the length and breadth of 

 the troubled region. 



