Sunspot Surprises Menzel, Dunn---Little Interference, Out of Season

An unusually large sunspot which has been reappearing persistently over the last few months has caused less interference with radio and wire communications than expected, Donald H. Menzel, professor of Astrophysics, said last night.

Not the sunspots themselves, however, but the active gases which cause them, can lead to serious interruption of radio communications and affect the weather, Menzel added. He dismissed as nonsense recent speculation that the sunspots might set off atomic stockpiles.

Richard B. Duun 1G, teaching assistant in Astronomy, noted that the spots, especially the one measuring over 100,000 miles in diameter, are unusual for this period in the sunspot cycle.

The present group can be seen by the naked eye, especially at sunset, with the aid of smoked glasses or clouded film, Astronomy 1 students have been requested to observe them over the past weeks.

Prediction of solar disturbances, including sunspots, is largely a project of the University's High Altitude Observatory in Colorado. According to Dunn, when a green line is visible in the sun's corona, sunspots can be expected in the next few days. The line is associated with the same incandescent gases which cause the sunspots.

Sunspot frequency hits a maximum every 11 years. The cycle is now approaching its minimum, which makes the present outbreak of sunspots unusual.