Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-07-31

clipse FIRST Showed itseIf; thence, j! grows
lighter and lighter, until you trace ii 10
the opposite side, where the white ray
seemed to have fingered, as il reluctant TO
desert the planet But. notwithstanding
this irree ular appearance of her face, she
is at no time abandoned by Der light. E.
ven al the middle Of Tue eclipse, when
she was dipped INTO the ear'h's shadow,
which was 10 about 40 minutes from the
commencement OF the eclipse, she exhibit
I'd that reddish appearance, though not
so perfectly red as she had done nearly
from the commencement. She seemed
reddish ball, hung up in the heavens, like
some lamps Of thick and irelted lass, sus-
pended in dark room.
One wonId be apt at fret to think that,
as The moon Is immersed IN The shadow OF
the earth, she would be \otaliy invisible.
But il is not 50 with the earth it.elt,
which. in the nignt, when The sun is ON
the other side OF her, and lht moon DOT up,
is still to be seen with various objects. Ii
is so when these bjec!s are in Tie sha
dow of house cut of IRON The rays OF The
moon. The reasons are, in the INST place,
that Ihe eye accommodates itself TO ITS ST.
tuation, aud acquires greater sensIbillly
to less light. This is obvious 10 any man,
a short lime after he has put out his can
die. Again, every object IN the dark IS
for some time giving out little oil the
light which it had inblbed from the sun,
as IS evident in countries covered with
snow, Again, unless The sky be covered
with "muIky Clouds" there is light con-
tinually stealing down every star which
adorns the armament: thus, man may
sometimes, in favorable situations, see bis
OwE shadow iroIu the beams OF the morn
ing star. But tte most probably efficient
Cause OF the visibility OF the moon during
eclipse, is. that she has all atmosphere OF
her own, which may Tefract some of those
beams OF the sun which fall upon ill.,
Few oil them, indeed, tall upon her; for
she looks faint, and has not strength e.
Rough even to form shadow upon the
ground. The night, though eminently
beautiful before the eclipse, was almost as
dark as ii there had been NJ moon at all.
The reason why the moon looked red,
is, because the rays she reflected were
few, and most of them. except the red
ray, were unable to pierce through her
own atmosphere, as well as ours. The
red rays, ii is we'll known, are the least
relleclible of all others They go through
a thick atmosphere as well as many other
media, which will arrest the violet, the
orange, &c. &c.
nave given only an optical account Of
the eclipse, Leaving it to others, possessed
OF the proper instruments, 10 calculate the
time, the duration, and 10 deduce the lon.
gitudes, &c, Ii remains for me TO add,
that, after the middle of the eclipse, the
moon put on a reversed appearance from
what she bad done at the commencement.
That is, the edge which had first lost its
light, first recovered il. the illumination
gradually stealing over her disk, and cha
sing away The Inyidious darkness which
had concealed her beauties.
Alter IL o'clock. she burst out again in
all her brightness; aud TO poetical eye,
she might seem 10 look brighter and more
beautiful than ever. as if she exulted 10
escaping from the gloon which bad over
cast her features.-Ii she did not teel the
contrast, il was at least felt by one Of her
admirers. EHDf MlON.
- viii not trouble myself or the reader by
calculating from astronomical elements, how
far the edge of the m DON was from the
edge of the shadow at the period Of the greatest
obscuration. II is easy to conceive, indeed,
that at such distance from the earth, her sha.
dow was sufficiently faint to allow many va.
grant rays to travel to the planet which it en-.
comprised.