The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-11-30
THE TOTAL ECLIPSE.
Will it be Observable From
This City?
GREAT PREPARATIONS MADE.
Total on the Pacific Coast, and Par
tIaI on the Atlantic
Seaboard.

Great preparations are now being
made by the astronomers in the east to
visit California for the purpose of TAX
ing observations of tie solar total
eclipse, which will occur at about 2 p.
m. on New Years day, on the coast of
California, and during the remainder of
the afternoon, if the sky be clear The
eclipse, according to one authority, will
be visible in totalIty over q strip OF
country about 120 miles wide, so it is
probable that we shall see it in its total
ity in Salt Lake. 1t will be visible, as q
sunset phenomenon, also total, in Can
ada, short distance north of Lake
Superior. AS partial eclipse, it will
be seen over much wider expanse, and
in New York State the sun will set in
partial eclipse, this being the most east
erly of the ST. les that will be favored
with view of the phenomenon. The
alta says California is the State which
will afford the only practical field for a
proper observation of the eclipse. This,
it is explained, is because the line of the
totality where stations can be estab
lished is principally in the northern
and southern portions of the State.
The coming eclipse is important if
for no better reason than that all
eclipses furnish important data to the
student of science. The eclipse in ques.
ton will occupy about two minutes in
duration, which is one minute shorter
than the general rule. NotWithstand-
ing the niggar dliness of Congress,
which refused to make an appropria-
ton of few thousand dollars for the
Naval Observatory, observations will
be taken by a number of parties. The
Lick Observatory will have three or
four parties in the field, Cambridge will
have as many more and several foreign
governments may also be represented.
The different parties will work for
different results. Some will photograph,
some will sketch and others will watch
the varying phases of the eclipse and
write out their Impressions. The pur-
pose of the observations will be a study
of the surroundings of the sun, the &C
complishment of which can be success
full only when, to speak plainly, the
light is put out.
Advantage is taken of the total
eclipse of the sun usually to look for q
planet between the sun and Mercury,
the existence of which has furnished
q basis for endless discussions. There
are some distur Dances in the orbit of
Mercury which theoretically might be
accounted for by the presence of q
planet inside of it. Heretofore, owing
TO the limited duration of the eclipse
and the compal ive'v large field to be
covered, the nom very Of planet
did not necessarily intricate its non-ex-
istence. But now that celestial photo
graphy has been brought to so high q
state of perfection, it is possible to OBJ
tain photographs covering the probable
orbit of every planet in our system
The non-appearance of planet on one
of these negatives would be considered
as strong evidence that no such planet
exists.
More important than this, however,
is the study of the philosophers and the
corona, which are considered by
scientists of more practical interest
than searching for an interior planet,
inasmuch as this gives US more knowl :
edge of the suns atmosphere and sur
roundings.
The Harvard Observatory party will
take position near the town of VIII
lows, in the Sacramento Valley, the
observatory station beirg at an alti-
tude of 2, 1000 feet above the sea-level.
Many instruments of subordinate
service are comprised in the equipment.
Among these are fiVe-inch and a four
inch photographing camera of the or
binary kind. Ore of the instruments
is for measuring the brightness of the
corona, and is an ingenious piece of ap-
paratus, primary feature of which is
a perforated plate. having perhaps
900 minute apertures for the passage
of separate shafts of light, any one of
which may be used for the purpose of
observation. An important part of the