New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
THIS YEARS SOLAR ECLIPSE
WHERE. WHY AND HOW OBSERVED
VISIBLE ONLY IN NORTHERN EUROPE AND ASIA
NATURE OF THE cORoNA-cURIoUs
INSTRUMENTS.

NATURE or THE cORONA-CURIOCs
INSTRUMENTS
| Tho moon. as 1t rcvoives around the earth. gets
almost exactly between the latter and the every
twenty mine and one-hah days. but II Is usually
Just trifc too high too low TO pass directly In
| front OF the sun. But next Saturday las time Is
calculated on the American contincnp the three
bodies will be in a direct line and consequently the
moon will completely conceal the sun from por-
| ton Of the earth's Inhabitants for very brief
| period Of time The event will be visible. however
only on the other side OF the globe from us; and
Sunday will have begun by that time over there.
Shadows are larger than the object which casts
them II the source OF light be smaller. But the
moons shadow will be much smaller than the moon
itself because the Illuminating body the SUM Is
vastly larger than the obscuring body. Tho diane
ter Of the ono is $4,000 miles and that Of the
other about 1000 The patch Of darkness falling on
the earth's surface. therefore. will not be more
than 200 miles across. and this will go rushing
along at a rate estimated at between one ana TWO
miles second
So skilful are astronomical mathematician that
they able to compute the precise path which
the moving shadow will take. Unless tho observer
Is placed within the prescribed limits, of course he
will either the eclipse a partial one or not at
all The belt OF totally begins over the ocean
away up north of Great Britain. sweeps eastward
across Northern Norway and the island OF Nova
Zenbla, then
to Yezo one Of the northern islands of Japan, and
out into the Pacific Ocean. So rapidly Will the
moons shadow whisk along that even at the centre
OF its path the total eclipse will last only one min
and forty seconds in the Arctic circle ana IN
Yezo scarcely more than two minutes These hg-
ures II must be remembered represent only the
complete observation of the sun Nearly or quite
an hour will elapse from the moment when the OBJ
server detects the moons disc first encroachns
upon the SUMS like black plate slowly slipped
over a white one, until the one entirely hides the
other And another hour will be consumed by the
gradual uncovering.
More than dozen parties Of professional scientists
and countless amateurs will have placed them
selves along the route with the hope OF witnessing,
sketching and photographing the phenomenon Sew
era popular excursions by steamer will go 10 Bodo.
town on the west coast OF Norway up in latitude
67ia Most OF the British astronomers Will encamp
on the shores of Varanger Ford, mountan-girt
BAY piercing the coast little east OF North Cape,
and reaching westward This Is in latitude TO- where,
for a part Of the summer, the sun never SETS but
simply goes round and round dipping closer to the
northern horizon than to the southern. Russians
will have posts OF observation in Nova Zernbla, At
the mouth of the river Obi and also on the Lena and
Amoor rivers At least four parties--two from
America one from England and one from France
will conduct operations in Yezo As between the two
ends of this line the Norwegian has the advantage
OF better weather probabilities than the Japanese
II is more convenient of access TOO, 10 sciehttsts
from Western Europe. But the eclipse Will be OF
shorter duration Again. owing to the very nign
latitude and the early hour, the sun will not be more
than one-sxth OF the way up from the horizon 10
the zenith at Bodo and Varanger Ford At the hrst
Of these places totalitv should occur at about 4Su
a m local time and at the second a little AFTER
o'clock: whereas in Yezo it would happen not far
from 3 o. NJ. 1t will not take the moons SHADOW
more than an hour and three-quarters OF actuai
time probably to travel from Bodo TO fezo. out
ouing 10 the difference in longitude clocks In Japan
are about seven and half or eight hours ahead OF
those in Norway At o'clock In the afternoon al
this time of year in Northern Japan the sun Is
,r,Ne more than one-thrd of the way up from the
horizon This Is much more advantageous eieVa-
tion owing to the impurities in the terrestrial atmoS
nhere through which all astronomical observations
must be made than that at which the sun VIII DO
observed in Norway.
For long time there were two solar phehohe"a
which could be observed only during tota. eclipse.
one was that thin sheet OF rosy gas, mostly ny
drogen which overlies the luminous coudshell OF
the sun But the chromosphere, with the huge
fantastic and ephemeraI protuberances which rise
I'D out OF II, can now be seen ana even pho.o-
rraphed at other times, owing to the recent ois-
coverv of the proper methods. Attention Is direct
cd almost exclusively during an eclipse therefore,
10 the corona. hazy white envelope, Irregular III