Of course we know
a great deal about the spots, the rotation of the sun on its axis,
the materials of which it is composed, and how its surroundings
look during a total eclipse. But all this does not answer our
question. There are several mysteries which ingenious men have
tried to explain, but they cannot prove their explanations to be
correct. One is the cause and nature of the spots. Another is that
the shining surface of the sun, the "photosphere," as it is
technically called, seems so calm and quiet while forces are
acting within it of a magnitude quite beyond our conception.
Flames in which our earth and everything on it would be engulfed
like a boy's marble in a blacksmith's forge are continually
shooting up to a height of tens of thousands of miles. One would
suppose that internal forces capable of doing this would break the
surface up into billows of fire a thousand miles high; but we see
nothing of the kind. The surface of the sun seems almost as placid
as a lake.
Yet another mystery is the corona of the sun. This is something we
should never have known to exist if the sun were not sometimes
totally eclipsed by the dark body of the moon. On these rare
occasions the sun is seen to be surrounded by a halo of soft,
white light, sending out rays in various directions to great
distances.
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