Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — The Heat of the Sun. [ARTICLE]

The Heat of the Sun.

How hot is the sun? That is a question that astronomers and physicists have been trying for years to solve, and they are. ; jiot yet satisfied that they know the true answer. In fact, it may be said, they are certain they do not know it, although they are able to report progress, from time to time, in the direction of the truth. The most recent trustworthy investigation is that of M. De Chatelier, who Axes the effective temperature of the sun at 12,600 degre@S*Fahrenheit. It may, he thinks, be either hotter or colder than that figure indicates, to the extent of 1,800 degrees either way. ' Previous to this investigation of M.

Dc Chatellcr’s the temperature of the sun had. been fixed at 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit by Rosetti, and that result was looked upon by many leading astronomers as probably the nearest to the actual facts of any that had yet been obtained. It will be noticed that the latter estimate takes off several thousand degrees, but this is a trifle compared with the falling off from the estimate or the temperature 0 f the sun made by some of the earlier investigators. The celebrated Seccln at one time maintained that the solar temperature was not less than eighteen million degrees Fahrenheit, but he himself afterward found reasons for dropping down to 250,000 degrees. Such estimates of the sun’s temperature as 100,000, and 50,000 degrees were favorably regarded a few years ago. If M. Do Chatelier’s result is approjtipaately correct, then we can, perhap?, begirt to get something like a comprehension of the heat or the solar furnace, since it approaches comparison with temperatures that we Can produce artificially. The highest artificial temperature has been estimated by Professor YouDg at about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But it must be remembered that there are certain arbitrary assumptions, which may or may not be correct, involved even in the most careful investigations of this subject, and that, at any rate, the sun is undoubtedly much hotter underneath than it is at its gjpwing and visible surface.