MILES OF FLAMING GAS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2284, 2 June 1921, Page 4

MILES OF FLAMING GAS.

The recent appearance of large groups of spots on the sun recalls the, fact that the biggest spots usually show themselves in February or August. Why they do so is not known.

Among other mysteries connected with sunspots is their appearance in larger numbers than usual every eleven years or so. When they are seen most abundantly the period is known as the “maximum spot cycle,” and when the sun is almost eicnr of them the period is called the “minimum spot cycle.” Both periods occur at regular intervals. These spots are caused by whirling masses of gas on the sun. Ihe gas rushes up from the sun’s interior with an appalling speed and appears dark only in comparison with the sun’s brilliant outer atmosphere. Perhaps the largest spot ever photographed at Greenwich Observatory was that of February 4th, 41)05, which covered an area of nearly 4,000 million square miles. Another group of spots is said lo have had an area of 3,780 million square miles. Such giant spots arc distinctly visible with the naked eye. The earth in one of them would ho like a pea in a pint pot.