Disturbing Sun
Book Excerpt
LATHAM. In what way?
NIEMAND. Why, because twenty-seven days is about the synodic period of solar rotation. That is, if you see a large spot at the center of the Sun's disk today, there is a good chance if it survives that you will see it at the same place twenty-seven days later. But that night Middletown produced another chart that showed the connection with the Sun in a way that was even more convincing.
LATHAM. How was that?
NIEMAND. I said that the lines drawn down through the days of greatest mental disturbance slanted slightly. On this second chart the squares were dated under one another not at intervals of twenty-seven days, but at intervals of twenty-seven point three days.
LATHAM. Why is that so important?
NIEMAND. Because the average period of solar rotation in the sunspot zone is not twenty-seven days
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Readers reviews
Nothing too great in the story, the question-and-answer format gets tedious, and two-thirds of the story could be cut without damaging it.
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An interview-type format is an odd little way of telling a story and it is up to the individual reader to judge f the reading is worth the time.
For this particular reviewer, it wasn't