. Popular science monthly. Fig. 12. Solar Corona, showing Polar Streamers. I am indebted to Professor Campbell. Bigelow, in 1889, investigatedthis coronal structure, and showed that it is very similar to the lines offorce of a spherical magnet. Stormer, guided by his own researches onthe aurora, has calculated the trajectories of electrons moving out fromthe sun under the influence of a general magnetic field, and comparedthese trajectories with the coronal streamers. The resemblance isapparently too close to be the result of chance. Finally, Deslandres hasinvestigated the forms and motions of
. Popular science monthly. Fig. 12. Solar Corona, showing Polar Streamers. I am indebted to Professor Campbell. Bigelow, in 1889, investigatedthis coronal structure, and showed that it is very similar to the lines offorce of a spherical magnet. Stormer, guided by his own researches onthe aurora, has calculated the trajectories of electrons moving out fromthe sun under the influence of a general magnetic field, and comparedthese trajectories with the coronal streamers. The resemblance isapparently too close to be the result of chance. Finally, Deslandres hasinvestigated the forms and motions of solar prominences, which hefinds to behave as they would in a magnetic field of intensity about onemillionth that of the earth. We may thus infer the existence of a gen-eral solar magnetic field. But since the sign of the charge of the out-flowing electrons is not certainly known, we can not determine thepolarity of the sun in this way. Fuithermore, our present uncertainty THE EARTH AND SUN AS MAGNETS 119. Fig. 13. 150-foot Toweb Telescope. as to the proportion at different levels of positive and negative elec-trons, and of the perturbations due to currents in the solar atmosphere,must delay the most effective application of these methods, though theypromise much future knowledge of the magnetic field at high levels inthe solar atmosphere. Of the field at low levels, however, they may tell us little or nothing,for the distribution of the electrons may easily be such as to give riseto a field caused by the rotation of the solar atmosphere, which mayoppose in sign the field due to the rotation of the body of the detect this latter field, the magnetic field of the sun as distinguishedfrom that of the suns atmosphere, we must resort to the methodemploAed in the case of sun-spots—the study of the Zeeman effect. If 120 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY
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