The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1891-11-16
THE MOONS ECLIPSE
Hundreds Of People Out to See its
Bright Face 0bscured.
WASN'T THE WEATHER LOVELY?
Observations Made In This City by Prof.
Upton and Others-Prof. Upton Finds
so of the 100 Stars Assigned to Him
by the Russians.

Dame Nature gave one of her grandest
exhibitions last evening, an exhibition far
beyond the power of mortal to rival. The
attraction was the total eclipse of the
moon, and had been billed far and wide
with lavish expense Front seats were
not at premium, for the humbest indi-
vidual could witness the show with as
much complacency as the rich man, whose
countless dollars were useless in this case.
No possible thought of failure could dim
the brightness of the exhibition, nor did
the question of salaries bother the man
agement. A full house was assured, and
never had venture more auspicious
outlook. The whole country and portions
of other lands comprised the audience
who viewed with bated breath this stu
pendous, one-act, one-performance spec
tacular, whose very simplicity was its
chief attraction.
The "star," or rather the moon appeared
above the horizon shortly before o'clock
in the afternoon, and after reconnoitering
the vast auditorium peopled with its con-
course of impatient spectators, sailed ma
iestically across the boundless stage and
entered upon her part with an abandon
which could but inspire. At 5:35 o'clock
the curtain arose and the long anticipated
eclipse began. For "A short time previous
>
eastern rim had become apparent and by
the time given above "A small semi-circu-
lar shadow appeared on the extreme edge
of the disc. Slowly, yet none the less
surely, the shadow encroached upon the
brilliant surface of the moon eating its
way through in manner that brooked no
opposition. To the naked eye the outline
Of the shadow looked sharp, but with the
assistance of n field glass ii could be seen
to be indefinite and hazy in appearance.
At 6:31 o'clock the satellite was in total
eclipse, but her disc was quite distinctly
visible, appearing to be illumlnated with
dull copper-colored light, due to the re
fracted sunlight which was detected round
the earth into the shadow. The middle of
the eclipse was reached at 1:l9 o'clock and
ended at SOL T.. NJ. From that time till
1908 II. NJ. the moon slowly left the shadow,
her bright crescent shaped disc seemingly
the brighter for it's short retirement.
Prof. Upton had his large glass at the
Ladd observatory in position, and made
some very interesting photographs of the
moons surface during both partial and
total eclipse. At the Seagrave observa
tory a large number of friends of the
owner viewed the sight. The various
changes were visible throughout the city,
and all the high points We're crowded by
hundreds of entranced spectators Every
thing went off according to the program,
the weather conspiring TO give the best
possible results.
The occultation or disappearance of the
stars behind the moon were but n part of
the curious phenomena accompanying the
eclipse, and were essential to an accurate
measurement of the moons diameter.
Latest researches have credited the satel-
lite with possessing n moon of its own.
and considerable diligence was lavished i'm
searching for that appendage. Ii was not
observed, however, in this vicinity, al
though it may in all probability exist.
Prof. Upton was one of the observers
assigned To assist in the Russian scheme
to find the location of the moon. The inn
perial astronomer or Russia assigned Prof.
Upton 100 stars TO look for and he found
eighty of them. which he considers worry
successful. The observatory mt Washing
ton was dark last night and those at Har-
ward and Brown got some of the finest OBJ
seryations.