Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-09
THE TOTAL ECLIPSE
Of Old Sol Which Is to Come
April 10.
A BURNING TOPIC JUST NOW
Among tho AsirOnOmors-A Long Black Tail
100000 Miles Long WIN Be Swept
In the Face Of Mother
Earth.


taken up with the total eclipse OF The
sun, which Is TO occur on April ~.
tail, extends nearly 2JOWO miles behind
the moon, Will then brush It's TIP across
the face Of mother EARTH hrst touehns
the Pacific ocean on the coast OF Nhln
traversing the whole width OF south
America crossing the Atlantic ana hual-
ly leaving the giobe ia the middle OK the
there Will hp a circle VI darkness, vary.
ing Ia width from eighty 10 l2u miles, anu
II will move with a speed exceeding that
OF cannon ball. occupy FROM uhlte
minutes to four and tlrce-quarteis IN phss'
ing over any pot which ~ upon the center
Of it, track. The fortunate observer 80
situated viii. ~ the weather IA me, WIZ
ness the wonders OF n total eclipse.
The moon win appear TO hrst strike ne
tic will ou,r0nch upon IL until the whole
OF the blazing disk rs covered. Iheu, Whle
the shadow passing the scarlet Gna2,,
aud above an the mysterious corona, the
most beautiful Of all celestial objects WIN
become visible FOR "a Few brief moments, I'M
tll the sunlight again breaks forth.
ON such occasions the exact moments
when the moons edge first touches ana
finally leaves the sun, ana Wnen tololi-
~" begins and ends, are careiuly hotr'h
since such observations, made AZ known
stations, are OF great value IN ueterlniu
ing the mo0i's place aud mouun bul
ut present sUll greater interest uttncueA
to the "nstru-phyelcal' OBSERVATIONS
which are possible during the fcW see
with sppctrOHcOpos, hOtOmetcra pulllln-
cuprs aud especially with PHOTOGRAPHIC
| apparatus Of various Kinds.
With the spcctuecope tue observers VIII
| try To study the peculiar phcuumtp
| which accompany the beginning ahu clo~V
! of totnllty. when for au instant the Ia
! miIar darkliued spectrum or the sun D.
! transformed. and Is hltcd with lines that
are bright smtCud Of dark; lines Whlch,
| thoroughly observed ana Identified, Wohld
| yield u most instructive record OF me con
| suutiOu Of the solar SURFACE, Nnd sc'lie
| instantly a long dlckct of disputed puea-
! But the visual observations are necessary
| hurried aud difficult ana AFFORD great scope
| Tor personal bius, " the phooglHphlc plH'c
| and the attempt VIII Doe made on TINS Occn-
| sion whit better prospects OF success nan
! ever before then the record, II less con-
| pete than that given by ocular opstrNA
| lions will be more certain and uustWor-
| thy. Hitherto Il IL true, phoiosrnphy nus
| not bepn very successful In dealing with
| this phenomenon, but since the last AT
/ tempt the Instruments ana plates Whlch
| are To Ice used have been grenuy improved
| During the three OF four minutes between
| the critical instants az me ueglhhhe Nuu
| ending OF the totally the spccuoscoWrls
will be busy with the prominences aud the
corona seeking 20 utilize the ADVANTAGEOUS
circumstances 10 obtain their constitution
and physical condition. ana IN thla mere
deliberate work there n mo- question thut
photography viii be most suece'siuHS en-
There are number OF problems con
| netred with tho absolute And relative
| brightness OF different parts OF the coiohu'
| and polarization OF it's light and these
VIII octupky the photometers and polnris-
But the most prominent part by far IN
the observations OF the eclipse VIII De
taken by photography, As already lhu.
mated many OF the spectroscopcs VIII
1york photoSraphlcally: but besides this
there Will be multitude OF cumefiN OF
various construction desiNned 10 opthlh
pictures Of the corona ana prounchtesi
some of them are planned for the detailed
study OF details on large scale others
90 secure pictures OF the whole extent OF
the corona with its fmntest ouuyihg
strenmers Some OF them use rejecting
telescopes some rcfrucung telescopes oi
the ordinary construction, ana some are
| large cameras Win specially CONSTRUCTED
combinations of lenses Some OF lh,'in
employ plntes sensitive only To the lnYlsl-
| lie ultraviolet rays which are peculiarly
shundant I'M the light OF the coronn, While
others will use iso-chromntic plates, CIV.
ing a picture more nearly resembling Nhal
is seen by tho human eye. ~ present lhe
study OF the corona constitutes distinct
liz the main object nf eclipse observations,
because the phenomenon, IN Itself - 81
beautiful and wonderful, * 70 mPeriecuy
understood and because while nl other
solar phenomena are all times more OF
lcss accessible to modern methods OF 90
| seryntion, this alone can be observed only
while the sun ~ hidden by the moon.
large number OF parties are now or
their way TO OBSERVE tue eclipse az VAR
ous points IN outh America ana Aiuca
There rs no government expedition non
The United States, but two small pnrue.
60 from this country 20 Chiili. One OF
1em : under the charge OF Professor SEM
eberle OF the Lick observatory, ana taxes
an outfit almost wholly Photographic de
voted entirely 10 tile study OF the structW,
and extent Of the corona. The obseryn
tons are TO be made hfty or sixty mile,
inland and at an elevation OF 4uVo OF VW
feet 80 as 10 avoid the haze which IN th'
. early morning usually enYelops the coaa
IN this season OF the year Another par Y
mailing from Harvard observatory Is ~, ~
eXpontmce IN astrWOmicm photograph,
in California ana Peru Il Vs. quite possiDl
} that Ms party may pe loln.g ~ lI tIrs.,o
OF the Cambridge ohservatoryl from Are
quipa. where the new B0yden fund oOserva
( oIy ls being eercted. The writer does no
know certainly OF any other parties wllici
viii observe Ia Gull, though II Is under
q stood that the Chilian government ma
taken measures TO secure observations.
MIR ThOme the successor of Or. ioui'
| IN the drectorship OF he National OnaerNh
, tory OF the Argentine Republic ~ Cordoya
. win occupy Is station az Rosario de IA
| Frontera, q little northeast Of Iucunhni ~
far as we can learn there VIII be no othe
observers in an the Interior OF the vas
continent: the country is Inaccessible, un'
the weather conditions are untaYoraDlo'
ON the Atlantic cpiNt where me eclpN
track passes into the ocean not TAR IRON
! Oeara. there VIII be AZ Tara tnru q thor
oughly equipped party 81 Engish observer
under the charge or a. Taylor, who ~
Professor IoCkyer'g assistant ~ houtl
| smce IN spectruul-ph
The Brazilian National Observatory o
| Rio IaneirO ~ also expected 20 send
party to that ueighbOrhOod, ana the sra
u lillian government has offered 90 put
= runbOat az the disposal 81 foreign asirono
Z | mprs who may wish 10 rpnch the stufiq'
! from Peruamhuco. X has been reportei
thar Prof II. \. phchett o. -. Louis woul'
take q smnl party % this station. nui w
, have seen no statement mat he has Hctuall,
! gone AZ Para Gnru fhe eclipse VIII nav
: n duration " Z minutes, "A seconds uun
suqliy lOug-with the Hln nearly overhead
hut The weather prospects are rather Doubt
fui as April Is ia the rainy season.
The line OF total eclipse after crotsinl
the Atlantic strikes the African coast o
= Sanegainlha a little south OF Cape Verde
Here TWO large parties one rrench an'
one English. Will be established, lh
b French party. sent out by the bureau de-
2 iongitudcs under the charge 81 N. Desiane
dres and NJ. Blg0urdan, viii Dc On th
coast very near Joal C5unt de 10 baun
pluvinel win also have o small private par
~ ID the same vicinity Theft OhserN atlnn
Z will be both spectrOscOplc anc Photographic
y The EnRliah party, in charge of i'rOi
> TaorBe will ascend tie Salum river 10
some distance ia gunboai, 20 plac
called Fuudlum, a station PIT az thelr ula
posA ~ lthe frtach gOYeIument. lni
Z party H. the largest and most perfeln
y s,ouinrWi Of an that have come 10 on