Abstract
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SUN.—Ebert's recent estimate of the solar temperature (NATURE, vol. lii. p. 232), based upon Langley's energy curves for heated solid bodies, is called in question by Dr. Paschen. (Astrophysical Journal vol. ii. p. 202). It appears that certain precautions have not been taken in formulating the law derived from experimental data, and that consequently the law does not hold even for the limits of temperature between which direct observations can be made. The chief defects of the former evaluations is that the prismatic energy curves have not been transformed into those for the normal spectrum; and when this is taken into account, the supposition that the wave-length of maximum energy is inversely proportional to the square root of the absolute temperature falls to the ground.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 53, 38 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/053038a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053038a0