MENZEL DISCOVERS CONTENT OF SUN'S CORONA IN ECLIPSE

Dr. Daniel H. Menzel of the Harvard Observatory and Dr. Joseph C. Boyce of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have at last succeeded in identifying the element responsible for the major part of the sun's coronal radiation, marking the first important step in unravelling a mystery dating from the first observations of the spectra of the corona more than sixty years ago.

The neutral oxygen atom in the high solar atmosphere and under a peculiar state of excitation has been definitely found to coincide with analysis of three of the strongest coronal lines. For years "coronium" a purely hypothetical element, had been considered the cause of the radiations from the sun's corona, just as the light of nebulae was long attributed to the mythical "nebulium."

The experimenters placed oxygen in a test tube and induced a high excitation in it by electricity; they then examined the gas through a spectroscope and compared the results with the spectrum of the solar corona. Although a slight discrepancy appears in these observations, it can be readily accounted for by the inability to produce in the laboratory the exact conditions of the sun.

From this point, it is expected, that other coronal lines will soon be interpreted and the mystery of the corona completely cleared up. The recent discovery at Mt. Wilson of a new star, Nova Ophiuchi, which also shows coronal lines at one stage of its explosive outburst has greatly facilitated this solution of coronal radiation.

Dr. Menzel, who is an assistant professor of Astronomy at Harvard, and Dr. Boyce, research associate at M. I. T., studied together at Princeton and received their M. A. degrees in the same year, 1923. Professor Menzel obtained his Ph.D. the following year and Dr. Boyce in 1926. The former became associated with Harvard in 1932.