197. The Spectrum of the Chromosphere.—The spectrum of the chromosphere is comparatively simple. There are eleven lines only which are always present; and six of these are lines of hydrogen, and the others, with a single exception, are of unknown elements. There are sixteen other lines which make their appearance very frequently. Among these latter are lines of sodium, magnesium, and iron.
Where some special disturbance is going on, the spectrum at the base of the chromosphere is very complicated, consisting of hundreds of bright lines. "The majority of the lines, however, are seen only occasionally, for a few minutes at a time, when the gases and vapors, which generally lie low (mainly in the interstices of the clouds which constitute the photosphere), and below its upper surface, are elevated for the time being by some eruptive action. For the most part, the lines which appear only at such times are simply reversals of the more prominent dark lines of the ordinary solar spectrum. But the selection of the lines seems most capricious: one is taken, and another left, though belonging to the same element, of equal intensity, and close beside the first." Some of the main lines of the chromosphere and prominences are shown in Fig. 215.
Fig. 215.
198. Method of Studying the Chromosphere and Prominences.—Until recently, the solar atmosphere could be seen only during a total eclipse of the sun; but now the spectroscope enables us to study the chromosphere and the prominences with nearly the same facility as the spots and faculæ.
The protuberances are ordinarily invisible, for the same reason that the stars cannot be seen in the daytime; they are hidden by the intense light reflected from our own atmosphere. If we could only get rid of this aerial illumination, without at the same time weakening the light of the prominences, the latter would become visible. This the spectroscope enables us to accomplish. Since the air-light is reflected sunshine, it of course presents the same spectrum as sunlight,—a continuous band of color crossed by dark lines. Now, this sort of spectrum is weakened by increase of dispersive power (159), because the light is spread out into a longer ribbon, and made to cover a greater area. On the other hand, the spectrum of the prominences, being composed of bright lines, undergoes no such diminution by increased dispersion.
Fig. 216.
When the spectroscope is used as a means of examining the prominences, the slit is more or less widened. The telescope is directed so that the image of that portion of the solar limb which is to be examined shall be tangent to the opened slit, as in Fig. 216, which represents the slit-plate of the spectroscope of its actual size, with the image of the sun in the proper position for observation.
