ECHOES

Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1928, Page 7

ECHOES

FROM BEYOND THE MOON. COPENHAGEN, November G. Professor Carl Stormer, of Oslo, in a recent lecture at the Academy ol Science there, declared that it had been proved by experiments that wireless signals were echoed back 'from outer space to the earth from distances up to 1,584,000 miles. It is pointed out that the cello could not have been from the moon, which is only 230,000 miles from the earth, nor from the planets, the nearest of which is 25 million miles away. Mr Hall, an engineer at Oslo, had observed that an echo from the transmissions of the Dutch wireless station at Eindhoven acted on his receiving apparatus up to three seconds ail'ter the signal itself had been received. As llie radio waves have a speed of 180,000 miles a second—the same speed as light —the echo must have been thrown back from a point in space 279,000 miles from tbe earth. He informed Professor Stormer of th > phenomenon. The latter immediately arranged ifor experiments in conjunction with the Eindhoven station. They took place on October 11. Tbe agreed signal was sent out and heard "on the receiver. Afterwards came the echo, somewhat weaker, but so distinct that the professor and his collaborators, with absolute certainty, recognised the signals from Eindhoven.

VARYING TIMES. The professor mentioned tho following times ns having been put down as elapsed between the sending out of the signals and the reception of the echo: 3,4 J, 5,8, 13, 15, and 17 seconds. The signals must thus have been thrown back 'from points the distance of which from the earth was: 279,000, 317,000, 431,000, 745,000, 1,211,000, 1,398,000, and 1,584,000 miles. The director of the Polytechnic Academy of Copenhagen, Professor P. O. Pedersen, says that there is no reason to doubt the statements of Professor Stormer, who is a prominent and acknowledged scientist. Asked whether lie Considers it possible now to penetrate space with radio signals from the earth and get into communication with other globes, Pro4'o.ssor Pederson says: Yes. There is nothing whatever to hinder communication through space, provided there is someone that can answer. But it cannot be attained by the use of longwave lengths, as those believe who have sent off messages to Mars. Bv means of the short waves we can penetrate space, and it has been proved now practically. Professor Pederson believes that the waves on their journey through space have met with electrically charged layers of rays—electrons —which threw the waves back. They may have crossed the path of the waves at different distances from the earth, which accounts for the variations in time.

8.8. C. EXPERT PUZZLED. One of the leading British wireless engineers said that lie could not offer any explanation of the reception of an echo so late as 17 seconds. He said: “ It takes a wireless wave a seventh of a second to travel round the world, and German engineers have recorded three recurring echoes, eacli fainter, and each l-7th second later as the wave passed back from its round-the-world journey three times.

“It is generally considered that only a very small wave, of about 1 or 2 metres, would pass through the layers of electrons, which are thought to lie in the high levels of the atmosphere 100 or 200 miles above the surface of the ea rth.”’