Fig. 92.—Drawing of a Solar prominence, made by Mr. Norman Lockyer on March 14, 1869, at 11 H. 5 M. A.M.
The masses of incandescent gas were estimated as being no less than 27,000 feet in height, yet in ten minutes they had totally changed their form and appearance, as shown in [fig. 93].
Even still more striking are the changes recorded by Professor Young, of New-Haven, in a solar prominence, which he observed on September 7, 1871.
Fig. 93.—The same object, as seen at 11 H. 15 M. on the same day.
SOLAR PROMINENCES.
That astronomer described a mass of incandescent gas rising from the surface of the sun to the height of 54,000 miles. In less than twenty-five minutes he saw the whole mass torn to shreds and blown upwards, some of the fragments being in ten minutes hurled to the height of 200,000 miles above the sun's surface. The masses of incandescent gas thus hurled upwards were of enormous dimensions, the smallest being estimated as having a greater area than the whole of the British Islands, and the force with which they were urged upwards was so great that they acquired a velocity of 166 miles per second. The accompanying woodcut shows the successive appearances presented by this grand eruptive outburst on the surface of the sun.
Fig. 94.—Drawings of a Solar prominence at four different periods on Sept. 7, 1871. (After Young.)