Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1869-08-19
THE ECLlPSE.

Vnfu, nNu cHar.rh Oh me OBSERVATIONS Nllltl
were made near the city reservoir. \ hun
drr'l photographs, were taken by Mr.. Black
ct E"stoN. Wlru the latest observation
took place, thr l,a,,!!t and tl,r earth pee
sentrd scene otuNtni S,hlimitS. \ bril-
liant amber cOlrr,u r.rou. nrrr;llr,
around the sun and moon, shooting; ray!
of light out III all directions, When til,
whole horizon WAS illuminated with Il lieh
OF tho Same color, the planet" Mercury an,
Venus and " number ul fixed stars w,r,
distinctly visible, hui no planctnilS Nr
tween Mercury and the sun were u,stor
cred. \ brilliant 1850 colorcl !!omr OF
protuherance was noticed on tho western
limb of tho sun during the period "l tota
observation. The phtmnncsm known n:
Eailcy's Beads was also distinctly wiz
messed. Prof. Pirrcc thinks it is orta> ion
ed by II rcfraction of light. He i; also sat,
lSliCu that tho corona or hnlo ut the time vi
the total observation WAS 0rrasrnru hS
the suns atmosphere. prOt Ct;tS. Schuti.
of tho coast survey, had charge at Tie gem
cral nrrln:,r,ntuts, and with aru"rrtul tel
escore observed particularly the, tornls.'i
protubcrnrcS, aud made special Obs, w,
tionS in connection with the photographer.
W. =. Montague. Il graduate OF Harvard
College, this year, WAS detailed tN note the
time by the chronon,tCr. and during the
entire eclipse, from It's commencement uu-
til its final close. never tor moment nj
lowed his eye Ia w"nirr from the dial
plate, thus losing Si,;l,t OF the eclipse in
any Of it's phases during the total "ln,rr-
walton OF the sun. \ silence like death
rested Ill over the city. Birds llrw tn
their nests, fowls to thyir rocst and
chickens to the friendly wings Of shell
ter. \ drove Of COWS feeding near tho res
crvoir, with heads and tails erect, and with
II scared, frightened look, started for the
city, and did not cease running until Old
Sol once moro sllone forth. Many other
incidents, some lalls;hahlc aud others grave,
TRANSFERRED during the eclipse. Dogs were
seen to gazc in wonder ut tho terrible MP
pcarance of tho sky, and rcnl"in during,
tho total observation in an attitude OF
alarm and wondcunent, but just ut the
moment the first rly OF the sun appeared,
expressed the Joy they felt i'll way that
dogs only can. The observations made by
the scientific gentlemen have been all that
could be desired. The photographs taken
by Mr.. Black have never been equalcl in
number or perfection of execution.
NATION, ILL.,, Aug. S.--Tho observations
at this place were made by Prof G. W.
Hough, of Dudley Observatory, Albany
N. Y; Prof. David Murray, of Rutgers
College, New Brunswick, N. j.; Prof. L. l..
yesterday. Of Iillsboro, ILL.,; Prof. John
c. Haasc, Of Waterford, N. Y; Lewis Swift
of Marathon, Cortland county, N. Y, and
Thomas Simmonds, of New York city, late
of Dudley Observatory.
The instruments made usc of were ortli-
nary telescopes, ono Of them, however, be-
ing provided with menses for accurately
measuring the Dimensions Of tho protuber.
ances on the sun, and the corona, or SUI
rounding halo. Il chronosraph was en-,
ployed to note accurately tho time of the
different phenomena. Tho time was OBJ.
tained by Geographic communication with
the Dudley Observatory, ut Albany, N. Y.
At ten minutes and fifteen seconds past
four the eclipse commenced, the moons
first contact with the sun occurring when
the former was nineteen degrees south of
the solar equator, on tho west side, Tho
thermometer, which few moments before
had risen to 1929, began to fall rapidly,
and gradually the darkness Of twilight be-
gan to spread over the Garth. Small flies,
gnats, and other heralds of night, thicily
tiuttered in the air until, at eleven minutes
past five, the unanimous exclamation from
the eager spectators announced the visible
advent of the first star, Regulus. Atpro-
cisely eleven minutes and seventeen sec
onds past 5 o'clock the suns shining face
became totally obscurcd, and star after
star appeared. The corona then threw its
brilliant coruscation of luminous light
around the black sphere. For two MIN
utes and thirty seconds the darkness WIS
equal to that Of q moonlight night, and
the temperature was forty two do
grees cooler than one hour before.
The countenances Of the specta-
tors assumed a CHASTITY, unnatural hue.
The sky was of light purplish color, ex-
cept near the horizon, where the aspect
was Of that golden radiance with which it
CLOVIS after a beautiful sunset. The climax
occurred when, at the close of the totality,
like flash of silver lightning, the first rays
of sunlight shot suddenly out, piercing the
gloom, and in second again iliumining
the world: The eclipse ended ct . min
utes and % seconds past o'clock. In the
observations taken, tho phenomena cor
responded precisely with the computations
previously made. Sixspots were visible on
the surface Of the sun before the eclipse,
others much less so. The cusps on the
moon had ragged and blurred appearance,
As the eclipse progressed towards totality,
the form Of the moon became visi
BILE. Near the cusps Of tho phenon1
were seen distinctly by all the Observers
extending through IN area of at least fifty
degrees. The moment the eclipse became
total, the hame-like protuberances, were
seen with wonderful distinctncss, one very
large on the lower limb of the sun, and
three nearly rs large on the upper line.
while ut least seven or eight of them in Ill
were visible, and had somewhat tho ap.
pearance of tnll-rigged ship with sails
set. In its part nearest the moon there
were two or three jet black spots. 70 the
naked eye it seemed as though there were
openings or assures in the moon, two on
the east side and ono on the southwest
side. just after the total eclipse, through
the openings tho livid glow of tho sun
was distinctly visible. The corona was
apparent to all observers, either with OF
without Instruments, 1t was not as gen.
orally described in the books, &C., q halo Of
light surrounding the moon, but was dis
tinctIy seen to be five pointed prongs on
the lower and two on the upper circumfer,
ence of the moon. These points presented
radiant appearance. Tho generally re-
ceiyed theory regarding this corona that il
is the atmosphere of the sun, does not
seem to be sustained by the observations
made at this point. 1t is conf vtured that
the corona is in some way caused 10y the
phenomena of light passing through the
atmosphere. Although search Was made
no PLANETARY bodies were observed between
Mercury and tho sun. During the totnlitJ
phase, Mercury, Venus, Resulus, Mars
Saturn, Denibola and other stars were vsi
BILE. Tho temperature in tho shade ut The
beginning of the eclipse was II degrees
during totality, 45 degrees, and at the enc
of the eclipse it had risen to 70 degrees.
At $40 in the sun on the grass the ther
momcter was at 100 degrees. A few min
utes after o'clock it rose to 1O2 degrees
while during tho total eclipse it fell to G.
degrees, but subsequently rose to 50 de
grees
snELEyy1LE, Ky,
via EM1NENCE, Aug. T.
The observations here to day were yer,
satisfactory, and in many respects CRAFTY
ing.
The following persons composed tn
joint board of observation for Shelbyvillo
Prof. James Winton, Of Harvard University
| in charge of the observations OF tho phenO
mena, assisted A. G.. Clark, of Cambridge
G. w. Dean, OF the coast survey, in char9
Of the observations of precision, assistc,
| by +. Blake, Jr., of tho coast survey. J. A
Whipplc, Of Boston, assisted Ivy G. CLAIR
and j. Prendergast, had charge Of the pho
tographs; Prot: J. NJ. Searlc, of New Ior
devoted himself to observations {
the phenomena, and during til
total phase was to search for il
tcrmcrcurial planets. Sub Assista1l
+. II. Agncw also devoted himself to oil
scrvations of general phenomena, and ha
charge of tho observatory arrangements
being assisted by IL. T.. Shared, Of I4oui: