The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-04-20

Observations of Professor Pickering and His
Assistants Last Sunday IN Chilli.
NEW YORK, April 19.-The Herald's VAL
paraiso correspondent gives details of the
total eclipse of the sun as observed by
as follows:
Professor Pickering has worked out
some Of the observations. lie reports that
the day broke absolutely perfect. without
tue taintest cloud during tho entire period
oil the eclipse. The first contact. when the
edge of the moon began 60 touch the edge
of the sun. occurred at 7:17:i O'Clock A. NJ.
The second contact, when the eclipse be-
came total was at S:l9:9. The third
contact, marking the cessation Of the
total, was registered at S;2l:59
the suns disc, at 9:S010 A. NJ. All these
periods are In local time. Forty minutes
after the first contact, about three minutes
TO O'Clock, the light OF the sun was ob-
served changing to sIckly yellow hue.
ana there was o perceptibIe though faint
chill of the air. Twenty minutes later the
corona revealed q round moon before the
observation had become total. During the
period of totallty there were In the east
and west dark tints like rain clouds lower
ing on the horizon. The colors were yel-
low anu faint orange In general. the light
resembling that of faint dawn. but gen.
orally it was less dark than a. past
eclipses.
Professor Albrecht took obsery ations OF
point nine hundred feet higher than
Professor Pickering. His data was scant,
having been obtained only through the tel
escope. The temperature fell 81 during to-
tally. 1t was specially notable, the OBJ
server considers. that the condensed shad-
ow bands or 'fringes' were similar to hot
air waves over an oven. or nipples on
pond. having the velocity of fast walk.
None of them was more than two inches In
breadth. They were from one TO three
feet apart. They were seen before and
after tosalIty. Before totality they were
faint The directions of movement were
variable. Professor Pickering says the re-
suits of PHOTOGRAPHIC obtained with the
dlfferential spectroscope give twenty lines
In the reversing lsver' of tho
solar atmosphere-the shallow stratum of
gas lying just above the philosophers and
known to contain the vapors of many ele-
ments commonly found on our globe.
Twelve of these brilliant colored spectrum
lines were seen through the telescope. This
Is the first time that these lines have been
successfully photographed. Professor
Pickering also says that the entire Spec
trOscOpic and corona photographs taken on
Sunday are very satisfactory and promise
to yield important data. Thrty-four sec
onds before the eclipse became total two
rays of light were seen issuing from the
cnsps. the terminal points corresponding to
the horns of the new moon and the cueps
were observed in violent motion. Before
totslity the corona showed conical
structure with n net work of inc filanenrs
visible I'D the naked eye. There were four
light streamers from the corona; the two
upper were shorter than the lower ones
Seven prominences were observed. Douglas
estimates that they attained q height of
eighty Thousand miles. The lntegrating
spectroscope showed red and yellow lines
two green lines and one blue in the corona.
The corona was unusually brilliant, with
much detail. The expedition is satisfied
with the photometrIc results. photographs
taken with q double-imaKe prism were Sc
Cured.n
Another Planet Discovered.
NEW YORK, April lathe Herald's Kiel
cable says: prof. Wolf. of Heidelberg.
has discovered another planet of the thir.
teehth magnitude"