The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-28

tomorrow there will be partial
eclipse of the sun, visible throughout
the United States, and local astrono-
mers are much interested in the phe-
nomenon. At Salt Lake a considerable
portion of the sun will be obscured. SO
that the diminishment of sunlight will
be quite oerce9tible.
An exchange gives these facts con-
corning the eclipse:
The area in which the partial eclipse
will be visible extends from a point
about thousand miles west of the
coast of Vancouver, British America.
along curved line to the west coast
Oh Africa; from thence it is bounded
by another curved line reaching to the
latitude of the southermost tip of South
America, about thousand miles east
tnereof; then by an irregulariy curved
line to the neighoorhOod of the Mar
quesas islands in the Pacific ocean. and
from there to the point Of beginning.
IL you trace a narrow path along the
axis, or backbone, of this area, you will
locate the region in which the eclipse
VIII be seen as ''annuler." That is to
say, in this region the moon will APP
pear, interposed directly between the
observer and sun.
WHAT "ANNUEAR" MEANS.
The sun viii not be entirely blotted
out, however as there Will be a rim.
or ring of light, left around the black
circumference of the moon. This ring
of light gives the name to this kind of
an eclipse, the word .annular" being
derived from the Latin word 'anulus."
meaning a ring. This is we'll to re
member, for there are not few per-
sons who have COMPOUNDED "annular"
with annual and who are under the
impression that an anular eclipse is
enc that takes place every year.
The path of the annular eclipse of
July % viii average about % miles in
width. and viii run from point about
1000 miles southwest of the town of
Topic, on the west coast of Mexico.
northeast through Topic: thence south
east, taking in Havana. and Just skirt
ing the right shoulder OF the South
American continent at Cape st. Rogue,
Brazil. The path will terminate in
point in the south Atlantic ocean off
the coast of south Africa The length of
this path IS about 5000 miles, but ow-
ing to its extreme narrowness, it viii
cover only small part of the globe.
The region in which the eclipse can be
viewed as a partial eclipse, on the other
hand, comprises most of the Western
hemisphere, and quite slice of the
Eastern hemisphere.
MOST IMPORTANT FOR YEARS.
This will be the most important
eclipse of the sun that has been visible
in the United States for a number of
years, for the reason that it Will be the
most considera BILE. There was a partial
eclipse Feb. l of this year, but it was
so slight that il could hardly be de-
tected. At the coming eclipse. however,
the moon will be much holder and will
blot out about half of the suns disk
This does not mean that half of the !
suns light will be taken away from US, |
for, strange to say, the amount of light |
we receive from the sun is not proper |
tionate to the extent of the surface of |
the disk exposed to view. 1t depends |
rather on the intensity of the light. !
Even in the case of an annular eclipse /
the amount of light that comes from |
the ring surrounding the moon is quite
dazzling to the naked eye. The proba- /
bility is that unless people are on the /
alert for the phenomenon their atten /
ton Will not be attracted by the in
reference of the moons body with the |
suns rays. If THERE are clouds in the /
sky, people will undoubtedly attribute
the DINNER light TO them. But with a
darkened glass the black edge of the
moon sharply outlined against the sun
may easily be perceived at S:27 a. m.
There viii be six digits eclipsed. A
digit in astronomical parlance,
means one-twelfth of the diameter of
the sun.