The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-11
LUNA.S ECLIPSE WAS A GO.
THE CLOUDS CLEARED AWAY JUST
BEFORE 1T BECAME TOTAL.

Through the Medium of the
Earth's Atmosphcrc-The Eclipse
Begun I'm savannah About on Cal
cuIated Time-How some People
Viewed It.
The first indications last night were
that the eclipse Of the moon. so far as
savannahians were concerned at least.
would be a failure but shortly before
10 O'Clock the last Of the clouds rolled by
and il came out into clear view. This
was Just a few minutes before the moon
had passed entirely into the earth's
shadow.
About s45 O'Clock hundreds Of peo-
PIE went out on doorstoops
and Diazzas 70 see the phe-
nomenon. but they were disappointed.
a rather heavy cloudiness overspread
the heavens. and the moon itself was in
visible According 10 calculations the
shadow was due at the eastern edge of
the moon at just six minutes and eish-
teen seconds before O'Clock. but at that
lime the moon was stiu obscured by
clouds. and il was impossible 10 tell
whether # came on time or not. 1t was
some ten or fifteen minutes afterward
before a break in the clouds made the orb
visible. and ii was then seen that the
eclipse was wei begun.
Prof. Otis Ashmore was watching the
eclipse closely to see how near the time
of contact corresponded with that calcu-
lated and he was somewhat disappointed
when Il was found that the determine
ton Of this time was made impossible
by the presence Of the clouds. a few
minutes later, however. when the moon
appeared.h he found the eclipse had begun,
and just before the totality was reached
the clouds had passed way entirely, Civ
ing a clear and fun view of the occur
renee. According to his observation the
total eclipse was reached at o'clock,
u minutes and % seconds, which APP
peared to be just two seconds later than
the calculated the So small "a differ
cnce, however. might have occurred from
several different causes. and IL may be
said that the calculated time was praC-
tically accurate. This practically settled
it that the time as stated in yesterday
Morning News was correct The eclipse
disappeared entirely about IS minutes be-
fore l o'clock this morning.
People who watched for the eclipse did
not give II up on account of the cloudiness.
reached the clouds began to get flaky and
the moon, with its shadow. appeared at
intervals through the riffs
Now there il u.s." was heard at one
place, just as the last cloud rolled off
"Oh. yes, amt It just lovely was the
seeming reply.
Some were looking at the eclipse with
opera glasses, others had small telescopes
and sun glasses turned on it, and some
even suggested using smoked glass,
though there has been discovered no posi-
tive evidence that any one attempted TO
make observations by this means. Very
little more could be seen with any sort of
a glass, however than was pretty plainly
apparent to the naked eye. II was simply
the shadow of the earth passing over the
moon, or the moon passing through the
SHADOW Of the earth, whichever way one
chooses 20 put IL.
Many thought that the presence of
total eclipse meant that the moon would
be entirely obscured from view. and il
was expected that for time the night
would be a very dark one The Brush Com
pany however, complimented its patrons,
the public, although It was full moon. by
turning on all the electric
lights, and there was no
trouble on that score But in spite of the
fact that the moon was totally covered
by the shadow. the entire disk was appar-
ent through the shadow. This was ex-
planned by Prof. Ashmore in his article
in the Morning News. Although in the
dark shadow of the earth, the suns rays
or the strongest rays of the solar spec
trum, the yellow, orange and red, are
refracted through the medium of the
earth's atmosphere and thrown upon the
disk of the moon. This is an evidence of
the clearness of the atmosphere on the
opposite sides of the earth at the dividing
lines between light and darkness. The
reflection from the a IA INF
one, but sufficient to bring out the entire
disk. The limb or edge of the moon
nearest the edge of the shadow APP
peared much brighter. even during the to-
tai eclipse, than did the center or op-
posite edge of the moon, which is ex-
planned by the fact that it was in po-
sition to receive more of the rays of the
spectrum refracted through the earth's
atmosphere.
Prof. Ashmore does not give much Gre
dence to the theory of absorbed light
which is said or supposed to be emitted
from the moon after it passes into the
shadow, and it's being made visible on this
account He thinks If this were the case
the light would necessarily have been
more uniform over the whole disk On
the contrary, however, the appearance of
the disk during the total eclipse was
brighter on the edge nearest the edge
of the shadow, and with the progress of
the disk through the shadow this bright
ness changed from one side to the other
The moon remained unobscured from a
time just before the eclipse became total
until after the shadow had entirely passed
Off
In just sixteen days there will be a par
tial eclipse of the sun, but it will not be
visible in this part of the country. This
will take place March %, when the moon
has passed to the opposite side of its orbit
and between the earth and the sun. 1t
will be visible in Labrador, the British
Isles and the North Atlantic ocean.
The inhabitants of this section of the
earth will also have the pleasure of wit
Messing another total eclipse of the moon
this year. 1t will take place Sept 3, but
viii begin about an hour later at night,
than did the eclipse last night, and will
extend into Sept 4.
IMPROVEMENTS STILL GOING ON.