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In 1843 he announced a decennial period of maxima and minima of sun-spot displays. In 1851 it was generally accepted, and, although a period of eleven years has been found to be more exact, all later observations, besides the earlier ones which have been hunted up for the purpose, go to establish a true periodicity in the number of sun-spots.
Titanium oxide in red stars. Titanium oxide in sun-spots. Astronomical observations of this character, it should be noted, are most effective when constantly tested and interpreted by laboratory experiment.
But the answer is twofold. First, such reasoning is captious, and secondly, it is not certain that sun-spots, or the want of them, may not influence human passions; it may be worth while to enquire into this possible solar influence as well as the other, which can be done by crossing the hands of the new fortune-tellers with a sufficient amount of that precious metal which astrologers have in all ages dedicated to the sun.
It has been suggested that sun-spots are indications of the beginning of a process in the sun which will be intensified until it falls into the state of such a star as Mira. Stars very far advanced in evolution, without showing variability, also exhibit similar spectra; so that there is much reason for regarding sunspots as emblems of advancing age.
But the small particles being constantly worn away from the revolving spherical particles in the vortex, become entangled in their passage, and when they reach the edge of the inner strata of solar dust they settle upon it and form what we call sun-spots. These are constantly dissolved and reformed, until sometimes they form a crust round the central nucleus.
Perhaps, they thought, to the telescopes if there are any among the stars, the sun was seen to be accompanied by two small, dark companions, for Jupiter and Saturn might be visible, or perhaps it seemed merely as a slightly variable star, in years when sun-spots were numerous, or as the larger planets in their revolutions occasionally intercepted a part of its light.
Near noon on that day two intensely brilliant points suddenly broke out in a group of sun-spots which were under observation by Mr R. C. Carrington at his observatory at Redhill, England. The points remained visible for not more than five minutes, during which interval they moved thirty-five thousand miles across the solar disk.
The jaguar, oncelot, leopard, and other tree-cats, on the other hand, are dappled or spotted a type of coloration which exactly harmonises with the light and shade of the round sun-spots seen through the foliage of a tropical forest. They, too, are almost indistinguishable from the trees overhead as they creep along cautiously on the trunks and branches.
Again, how elementary seems the teaching of Her-schel, wonderful though it was in its day, when compared with our present knowledge of the sidereal system as outlined in the theories of Sir Norman Lock-yer. Herschel studied the sun-spots, for example, with assiduity, and even suggested a possible connection between sun-spots and terrestrial weather.
The method of his observations, moreover, was chosen with the same practical sagacity as their objects. As early as 1847, Sir John Herschel had recommended the daily self-registration of sun-spots, and he enforced the suggestion, with more immediate prospect of success, in 1854.
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