On the Great Sun-spot of June 1843*

Abstract

ONE of the largest and most remarkable spots ever seen on the sun's disc appeared in June 1843, and continued visible to the naked eye for seven or eight days. The diameter of this spot was, according to Schwabe, 74,000 miles; so that its area was many times greater than that of the earth's surface. Now, it has been observed during a number of sun-spot cycles that the larger spots are generally found at or near the epoch of the greatest numbers. The year 1843 was, however, a minimum epoch of the eleven-year cycle. It would seem, therefore, that the formation of this extraordinary spot was an anomaly, and that its origin ought not to be looked for in the general cause of the spots of Schwabe's cycle. As having a possible bearing on the question under consideration, let us refer to a phenomenon observed at the same moment, on the 1st September, 1859, by Mr. Carrington, at Redhill, and Mr. Hodgson, at Highgate. “Mr. Carrington had directed his telescope to the sun, and was engaged in observing his spots, when suddenly two intensely luminous bodies burst into view on its surface. They moved side by side through a space of about thirty-five thousand miles, first increasing in brightness, then fading away. In five minutes they had vanished. … It is a remarkable circumstance that the observations at Kew show that on the very day, and at the very hour and minute of this unexpected and curious phenomenon, a moderate but marked magnetic disturbance took place, and a storm, or great disturbance of the magnetic element, occurred four hours after midnight, extending to the southern hemisphere. “The opinion has been expressed by more than one astronomer that this phenomenon was produced by the fall of meteoric matter upon the sun's surface. Now the fact may be worthy of note that the comet of 1843, which had the least perihelion distance of any on record, actually grazed the solar atmosphere about three months before the appearance of the great sun-spot of the same year. The comet's least distance from the sun was about 65,000 miles. Had it approached but little nearer, the resistance of the atmosphere would probably have brought its entire mass to the solar surface. Even at its actual distance it must have produced considerable atmospheric disturbance. But the recent discovery that a number of comets are associated with meteoric matter, travelling in nearly the same orbits, suggests the inquiry whether an enormous meteorite following in the comet's train and having a somewhat less perihelion distance, may not have been precipitated upon the sun, thus producing the great disturbance observed so shortly after the comet's perihelion passage.