Important Work By N.Z. Observatory

Chronicle (Levin), 31 August 1949, Page 7

Important Work By N.Z. Observatory

— WELLINGTON, August 30. When the staff of the Greenwich Ob servatory wake up tomorrow, they wii. ilnd a eablegram from the Carter Observatory, Wellington, awaiting thei attention. It is part 9±' international collaboration by whieh astronomers ari stalking the seerets of the sun., The development whicluled* to tlii cable message, said the Carter Observatory Director., Mr I. L. Thomsen, begai, at 1.10 p.m; this afternoon when worc was received from the New Zealann National Broadcasting Serviee that al signals. had started to f ade ,t.o the • ac companiment of terrifie bursts of noise. The Post Office reported that San Franciseo could not be pieked up — the transPacihc telegram serviee wa.s out o. action. These conditions lasted 30 minutes. It was then that the clouds clear ed and betrayed the sun. In its hydro gen atmosphere was an apparent bright spot which-showed against the rest a neon light. That objeet was a rnass Oi gas extending for perhaps 30,000 or 50,000 miles. Radiation from it affecteil the upper regions of the atmospheiv and put the radio systems out of action. The cable was New Zealand's data on the event. In explaining that the funetion oi the Carter Observatory was to be praetical rather than aeademic, for the public rather than "dreamy old scientists, " Mr Thomsen said the institut-ion was splendidly situated for importam. research work. In the world 's task oi keeping a 24 hour eye on the sun-, the Carter Observatory was awake whilr most other observatories were asleep Its reeords on solar phenomena wem forward to an increasing number oi countries and to the headquarters of this research in Zurich. . It was now well established that ra dio conditions on earth were related to sunspot activity and engineers wanted to know not so miich what had happen ed in the .past but what was happening now and what would happen in future. They wanted to be able to arrange for the best broadcasting hours and frecpiencies. The Carter Observatory wanow attempting to forecast radio conditions from sunspot activity for the New Zealand Broadcasting Serviee and Post and Telegraph Department. The Chief P. and T. Engineer in Sydney had also asked for information. The only othe.

institutions working in this field were the National Bnreau of Standards aiu! British Admiralty.