The Spectrum of the Aurora

Abstract

IN the Philosophical Magazine for February there is a paper by F. Zöllner, on the Aurora Spectrum, in which he points out that, since the light of the aurora is as faint as that of the faintest vacuum-tube capable of being spectroscopically examined, while the mass of incandescent gas is almost infinitely greater, its temperature must be exceedingly low comparatively. He therefore supposes “that the spectrum of the aurora borealis does not correspond with any known spectrum of the atmospheric gases, only because, though a spectrum of our atmosphere, it is one of another order, and one which we cannot yet produce artificially.”