The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-23
ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
Importance of the Total Observation
that Will Occur Jan. l.
FTOm the Boston Herald

From the Boston Herald.
NV YORK, Nov. 19-Mr. Garrett T.
! Seryiss, the secretary of the American
| Astronomical Society, and well known
| lecturer and writer on astronomy, was
| asked to-day what there was peculiar and
interesting in the eclipse of the sun which is
TO occur on Jan. l next, aud for the obser
walton of which Harvard University has
already fitted out costly expedition TO go
| 70 the Pacific coast.
The path to the total eclipse. as it is
| technically called" said Mr.. Serviss, will
| begin near the center of the group of the
| Aleutian islands, which stretch across from
Alaska to kamtschatka, and. sweeping
! southwark and eastward over the northern
Pacific ocean, will reach the continent little
| north OF San Fraacisco. 1t will continue
| on in a broad curve turning or.hward,
and, crossing Nevada. Idaho and Montana,
viii end far up in Canada, about half way
between the western end Of Lake Superior
and HuisOa'S bay While ouly observers
along this lire Will see the sun totally
eclipsed, a partial eclipse will be seen all
| over the United States. Here in New York
the eclipse will be just beginning at sunset.
The further west you go the better chance
you will have TO see it,
'One reason why this eclipse possesses
special interest is that since the last previous
! total eclipse that could be observed to ad-
progress has been made in the art of astro-
nomical photography. There is no greater
mystery in the visible universe, perhaps, than
the coronal streamers appearing around the
sun when it is totally eclipsed. OF course
these strange phenomena are there all the
time, but, owing TO the effect of the glare of
sunlight in the earth's atmosphere, they are
luvlS bic to us except during the very few
minutes that the lazing face of the sun re
mains hidden by the opaque body Of the
moon. They were first generally recognized
as belonging to the sun in 1868, and since
then on every possible occasion astronomers
have spared no pains or expense to study
them, going with cumbersome loads of in
struments TO every part of the world for
that purpose
ION this occasion astronomical photog-
raphy will be applied with. perhaps, better
hopes of success than ever before. Not only
viii the corona be photographed as a whole,
so as ID retain accurate representations of
its actual form for comparison with future
ecllpses, but many careful photographs
VIII be made of the SD ctrum of the corona.
You, of course, understand that the pur-
pose of this Is to arrive at knowledge of
the composition of the coroua-what it
consists Of. There is a mystery about the
composition OF these banners OF the sun
That has never yet been solved. Some
have regarded them as consisting of gas
eous matter surrou lding the sun, and be-
ing perhaps, the product of election from
it, Others have thought that they might
be vast swarms of meteors crowding thick
about the sun, and shining thick in its
light, or, perhaps something that might
be likened to colossal dust clouds surround
ing that ire nendous solar engine to whose
unceasing activity 20 owe the hight and
heat and vivific forces that make the earth
habitable.
1T is hoped that good deal of light will
be thrown upon this queS ion by the OBJ
Servations of the coming eclipse Then,
again, the observers on this occasion VIII
have the advantage of making their OBJ
servations in a remarkably clear atmos-
phere, for there is no clearer air in the world
than that of California, where the eclipse
observers "ill e., and, in addition, they
Will place their instruments OF high alti-
tude, some 1000 feet above the sea, thus
getting above much Of the smoke and stir of
this dim spot the earth. The great sdvant-
age of high altitude from which to make
observations has been long recognized, and
has been emphasized within the past year
by the marvellous achievements of the great
Lick telescope, mounted on the summit of
Mt. Hamilton, In California. By the way,
it is most unfortunate that the line Of
t0tality runs between 100 and 200 miles
north of Mt Hamil on, and as it would be
lmpractlcable to move 50 large an instru-
nent, 1t will be impossible for the astrono-
mers TO see this interesting eclipse with the
most powerful telescope Of the world. We
shall have some very interesting news in
astronomical circles after the eclipse is
oyern