Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 148, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1920 — EARTH PASSED THROUGH CORONA [ARTICLE]

EARTH PASSED THROUGH CORONA

Professor Snyder of Philadelphia Explains Recent Great Auroral Display. DUE TO HYDROGEN PARTICLES Phenomena Is But Logical Result of Explosive Eruption of the Electric Hydrogen From the Sun. Philadelphia—The earth was passing through the outer confines of the corona or exterior envelope of the sun on the night of March 22, when the inhabitants of the northern portion of the United States witnessed the great display of the aurora borealis, says Professor Monroe B. Snyder, director of the Philadelphia observatory. . The astronomer, in a statement to the Associated Press, says that the “universal force of radioaction” on the sun “hurled the final atoms of an explosion, namely, electrified hydrogen, and probably helium, straight-to the earth.” Passing Through Solar Corona. Professor Snyder’s observations follow: ’‘The recent aurora Is a fine Indication of the explosive atomic disintegration which takes place at the surface of the sun and is responsible for

Its prominences, spots and corona. Our discovery of the magnitude and precise atomic order of the explosion of the chemical elements In the sun, and In the stars generally, leads to conceptions of the aurora and the accompanying magnetic and electric storms which are beyond any doubt as to their validity. “During the hours of the night of March 22 the earth was, In a very true sense, and to the delight of us all, passing through the outer confines of the solar corona. The same universal force of radloactlpn which disintegrates the atoms in stupendous localized Krakatoas, or Mont Pelees, on the sun, and produces the hydrogen of the coronal streamers, then also hurled the final atoms of that explosion, namely, electrified hydrogen, and probably helium, straight to the earth. Phenomenon Explained. “Only within about a month of the equinox, vernal, or autumnal, is the earth In an orbital position to be thus successfully bombarded. The moving electric hydrogen is, of course, an electric current and is therefore carried toward the poles of the earth and round them by the earth’s magnetic forces. The fascinating colors of the aurora are due to the changing electric excitation of the hydrogen and .other gases. The theory of Vegard, the Swedish physicist, which has explained the wonderful curtained auroras as due to hydrogen particles, of positive electric charge, is now shown to be unquestionably true in that it 1* but a logical result of the explosive eruption of the electric hydrogen from the sun. “The well-known delay, or lag in time, between the solar eruption and the appearance of the magnetic storm and accompanying aurora on the earth, of about forty-five hours, is due to the time taken for the hydrogen atoms to travel from the sun to the earth. The rate of travel is about 575 miles per second, or somewhat in excess of the rate of the upward movement of the gases in some of the great solar prominences. “The numerous and complex details of the auroral phenomena are found thus to receive, for the first time, reasonable explanation. Additional confirmation of tins explanation is given by the fact that our discoveries also prove that all the elemental atoms, so wonderfully explosive in the Stars, are structural products of hydrogen."