New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-17
be Of the SUM- 1880 was year OF the last kind; there
were only two eclipses, both Of the sun.

around the sun casts a shadow behind IT. We cannon
see these shadows because space not dusty We
the sunlight streaming into room because the air is
dusty but the shadows OF the planets passing through
free space there s nothing to show the shadow al
though really streaming out into space In long
narrow lane. In the Of eclipse OF the sum- we
have portion OF the SUMS disc shown here and the
OF the sun, and about 225,O0o or 100000
distance OF the from the sun changes little dur
ing year. and sit changes the length OF the shadow
in the figure there will be an eclipse that may
look upon eclipse OF the sun as caused by the shadow
OF the sweeping over the earth II we were sit-
ated upon psnet Venus and should look ut the earth
through telescope we should see the shadow OF me
disc We do that In the case OF the eopses OF me
satellites of Jupiter for we can follow them Easily Win
a telescope If the observer upon the earths surface
outside Of the shadow in what called the shadow
produced or the NEGATIVE shsdoT as It Is sometR G
the upon the surface OF the SUM- put IL WIN uo
lar or rng-shapod eclipse. Those are more common
than total eclpses of the sun, because ON the whoie
the shadow is little TOO short to reaoh the earth on tne
average II the observer out IN the almost shadow
penumbra, II is called. he would see the sun party
the moons disc That is what we call partial ecapse
We have then three kinds OF ecpses When the
il in the shadow be win total eclipse; II III the
shadow produced no win annnlar eclipse; aud II
in the penumbra, he VIII see partial eclipse .n,
surface when everything favorable to make IL large
possible. is circle about 100 miles In diameter Inc
largest possible size OF the shadow produced, s circle
$50 miles diameter OF varying between these
points it is possible tor the observer to be exactly a. tne
eclipse that will last time at ALL That gong 10
happen in the year 1927 Ia England ana wales lSr tneh
eclipse will be done soon AZ At begins.
An eclipse of the moon occurs hen he moon gets mo
the earts shadow that the moon Is deprived OF e
direct sunlight and is Illuminated only by that whch Is
As 70 the frequency Of ecpses OF the sum- have told
you how many there must be upon the EARTH but at any
particular place the numbers are very dlnerent To-
al Qcli ia n nlenOmeuOQ.
the equator 1t VIII occur once III ABOUT sou years az
London the total eclipse In IVA, and there VIII
not be another until after the year $500 do not know
long after that the next one Will De- Ihere VIII oe
one or two total ccpses in the twenty hundreds III the
northern part of England but none to reach London
| am not whether the total eclipse or lSCo
reached New-York City, but il was visible in Pough-
keepsie and YOU need not expect another here
II will III New York before the year 22OO
and I 40 not know how much beyond that. But there
nave been total ecpses visible the United States in
the years 1906 1885, which passed through North car
DINA and Georgia; IN 1860, when the SHADOW crossed
Washington Territory and passed over Hudsons Bay
and Labrador; the eclipse of 1853, when the SHADOW
passed over Iowa, Illinois Kentucky and North Carolina
and Texas and in 1900 there viii be eclipse visible
in Virginia, but best seen 1T sea and in SPAIN -,
The recurrence of eclipses was known
by way, that the very earliest astronomical records
we have are OF eclpses, ana they are me bones o,
history are almost entirely composed Of ec1pses tina!
nave occurred and that are recorded ON TIE pages OF
history eclpses that happened in connection with Dat
ties with other interesting events We can III many
cases identify these eclipses Our knoT edge OF tHe
Christian depends mainly upon the tact That ON the
night the death OF HerOd, three years before the
Christian era there eclipse OF the moon. IL was
found at least thousand years before tue Srls uan
that ecpses occurred with great regularity IA "a
period % Is years and 10 or IL days according to the
number of leap years that interviewed. In 223 months
from any eclipse there Will occur another with scarcely
almost precisely equal TO nineteen eclipse years, as
they called tho eclipse year being ihe time taxes
the sun to go around the sky from OF the moons
nodes to the same node again. Ihe moons node Is
moving backward all the time at such rate thlt II goes
arpT anupe n nineteen
these of the sun, from node 70 node there
are within small fraction Of day, Z23 months, the
difference being only AZ minutes but ~ cOnse
quencc OF that ltle difference the eclipse VIZ take place
each time "a little further ON than it was before
The eclipse OF 1860 for instance came down across
Labrador and went INTO spain that Of 1873 struck near
Alaska and down through Colorado something like
eight hours Of longitude OF the FIRST and that hap
pens usually. The or the coincidence not
exact however that the eclipses not repeated
precisely The sun situated slightly differently with
respect the node in this SarOs the ecipses Will
shirt their places little by little eacn being repeatedln
the case Of solar eciipsessiXty-iye seventy shines
For period OF 1,200 years after solar eclipse nrst
makes lis appear1Dce-ln one sense OF the word-ths
eclipse Will be repeated at Intervals OF eighteen
years. until out tine otner side IN the case OF
the lunar eopses II ID 900 instead ot LOU Years. In
this periOdthe OF SarOs, would say mere,
is about 5000 years old by this tme-in this period
there are usually seventy eoupsts as Jew Us
sXtyeght, sometimes many 5eVehty-tWO or seventy
three OF those seventy, tWenty-nine are OF the
moon and fortyone OF the sun vi those iotD-Ohe
ecpses thirteen fourteen ecnpses seen only near
sixteen or acknowledgements a. few as hfteen-are
annuar about ten total eepscs occurring in the
where Other the earths surface there IL total
eclipse Of the sun BY running after heu therefore,
Now az problems To be studied al Total eclipse.
They quito numerous and are accessible only ~
those times. In the first place we can make
inyestlg cations as TO the atmosphere OF
the moon and | may say that we are
moon passes the SUMS csc the effect IL
nroaces pon tho az pearance of the edge the sun
and the objects It's surface, aud we may ini might
French physcsts Thought they ana perceive some slight
fn IN o. he
q very slight lunar atmosphere. We can also use the
eclipse 10 determine the moons motion with reference 20
IL be used to measure the distance OF the
from the earth in the same way tnat the transit
of Venus used To measure the distance the earth
from the We also the eclipse To investigate
the phenomena that connected with the eartns
1nOspnere. deprivation Of light, sudden cutting
of sunl at, gives very peculiar condition OF
things be studied TO advantage with photometers and
0ther INSTRUMENTS linen the physOioelcal ehects pro
duced upon animals and vegetables are some or them
very cnriOus-pertaining strictly to astronomy, but
more TO natural science OF ohet klhub bu tHy piIhc
pal phenomena thrown open 10 us are these We nave
an opportunity, brsI 70 stndy inc question Oh
cural planets closer 10 the sun IMAM Mercury anu IN
1873 some of our astronomers tho1ght they had onnd
One-perhaps two planets between our sun ard Mer-
curry. am inclined 10 tbnk there was mlatahe IN the
matter but II sill IS question OF great interest ana
every time total eclipse occurs some one is dctied0
look closely after that maLter-as there should
always Deand II IL not impossible That there may De
some respectable body between the sun and MeIcary
although 10 my impression that what there is must be
small indeed from the amount Of negative evidence In
Then have the opportunity these times to myest
gate the SUMS lower atmosphere, the question OF the
Just at the the has covered up tine
sun, as l told you the other night, we nave the
atmosphere OF the projecting beyond the
MOON and for a few seconds can examine
by itself apart from the glare Of ordinary sunlight and
iust now there is good deal OF interest attached to that
fact that Professor L0ckycr proposed peculiar
theory which would make us believe that the materials
or the different from those on the earthin this
way: That the iron Is compounded substance ON the
earth and decompOsed the and when get the
spectrum merely have the spectrum Of the
mingled component Some OF those comPonepts are
found close 10 the SUMS disc, where the heat is very
great and then higher up Others, and stu higher mp
others. Now from observations made AT this moment
when nothing slbe bat the solar atmosphere II ought
possible discriminate between the results or that
theory and the one that next hed and the next solar
eclipse looked forward TO with very great interest on
of LOckyers claims founded on his observations
OF the eclipse occurred in Egypt on the l7th OF May
being favor of his hypothesis and some rather
doubling II. Then have the opportunity OF studying
the solar prOminenoes, which cannot be done no any