Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-24
THE COMING ECLIPSE.
Who Will Observe 1.-THE Possibility
Of Finding an Inter- NIercurial Planet.

The eclipse of the sun which will occur on
January 1, 1889, is looked forward to with a
great deal of interest as it will present another
opportunity for astronomers to establish by
observational proof the probable existence Of
an inter-mercurial planet. The line of totality
will pass through the northern portion of Cali
fornia, the point Of greatest duration being
short distance to the north of San Francisco.
Already active preparations are being made to
view the phenomena. Prof. Pickering of Har-
ward college, will have charge Of one party.
Inc astronomers from the Lick observatory
Will also be on hand, and il is understood that
DR.. Lewis Swift. of Warner observatory will
be located within the limits Of the line Of to-
tallty and be prepared to search for inter-mer-
curial planets.
THE TERM INrER-MERcURIAL
is one that has been coined 1t defines body
revolving between the orbit of Mercury and
the sun, and the positive determination OF
which Is the aim of several astronomers who
viii view tine eclipse. In March. 1859, man
named Lescarbault, q physician residing in
France, made the statement that he had oh.
served an object cross the suns disc which he
thought might be a small planet. Leyerrier.
the great French mathematician upon learn.
ing OF this observation. determined To have a
personal conversation with Lescarbault This
meeting took place, and the sequel of it was
that LIE Verrier came away convinced that an
in.er-mercurial planet had been observed.
The verificatiOn of this so-colled discovery has
never been made. An object as large as that
claimed to have been seen by Lescarbault
would not have escaped the eyes Of astronomers
who have viewed eclipses of the sun sub
sequent to 1859. An object large enough TO
appear as a black spot while crossing the sur
face OF the sun would, during a total eclipse
shine nearly as bright as Mercury.
THE RE-DIscovERy
OF this hypothetical planet, often called vul-
can, has been attempted at almost every eclipse
that has occurred since 1882 II this planet
exists II never departs more than 50 from, and
must always be within the overpowering glare
OF the sun. During the eclipse Of 1878 the late
froI. watson and DIR. Swift, of Warner observa-
tory, made a careful search for one or more of
these bodies. Both Of these astronomers found
what they supposed were inter.mercurial plan
cts, but when il is remembered that the limit
OF totaiity OF an eclipse is only about two or
tnree minutes, often shorter than that. IL can
be judged what a small interval of time 4 al
lowed the observer in which to determine the
position OF any object he may pick up. The
two objects found by DIR. Swift he describes A.
TWO red stars with large discs, about Sc soutb-
west OF the sun, and about Y or g. apart He
has come to the conclusion that one was Theta
Cancri. a nth magnitude star in the consteI,s
ton called the Crab. and the other A nlsnet
Possibly upon the photographs which will be
taken OF the space around the sun there will
appear ON the negatives a star point which on
comparison with map of that region Of the
sky can not be found II the point Is rather
large and has an elongstion, the planet has
been found.