The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-29
''AND THE EARTH
WAS DARKENED"
The Astronomical Event Of
the Century.
SCIENTISTS ARE HAPPY
Believe Much Will be Learned by
the Great Eclipse.
WORK AT PlNEH0RST AND WADESBORO
A Afrighiful Interruption at Newport News. Two
\ Important Discoveries Made by Profs.
Lord and Pickering Are Re-
ported by Atlanta.
(Staff Correspondencc.)

lSlaH SOTTeSponueHCc)
Pinehurst, n. c., May 2S.-Throughout
the belt of total eclipse there are today
stationed at points variously selected for
different reasons observatores to be
operated by the most eminent astrono-
mers in the world To none of these
points does the world turn with greater
eMcectation than to Pinehurst. There
have been placed by the Naval Observa
tory at Washington instruments more
novel and powerful than any that have
ever before been used. Two other
branches from this institution are To-
Gated in Georgia.
The party stationed here to make OBJ
trained men under the direction of Prof
a. n. Skinner, professor of Mathematics
in the above named institution, and DR..
Ames, of Johns Hopkins University.
They have with them seventeen instru>
ments of different kinds. Very powerful
spcctroscopes lave been provided for
photographing the spectrum of the
corona that encircles the sun in a halo
and visible only during totalty. The
spectroscopes are one flat grating" one
"concave" (Which projects a spectrum
two feet long, and one objective prism. >
This halo of light changes from eclipse
TO eclipse and it's nature, unknown, is
the subject of widely differing theories.
1t is therefore necessary to determine its
shape and analyze its rays.
Seven cameras Of different sizes for
photographing the corona. The smallest
camera projects an image one tenth of
an inch in diameter, and the largest five
inches in diameter These are not so
large as the huge camera erected at
Wadesboro, one hundred and thirty feet
long with its fifteen inch image, but
Prof. Skinner anticipates more satisfac-
tory results.
The party also used "a number of polari
scopes.
An instrument has also been devised
for ascertaining the nature of the shadow
bands which immediately proceed and
follow the eclipse. 1t registers the size
direction and velocity of the bands, if of
regular intervals, but if not it is desired
to know this. Heretofore this has been
done, if done at all. in very crude way
and nothing definite is known of their ma
ture. So far as known no other obser
vatory has an apparatus for this purpose.
Sir Norman Lockyer says: mo great
harm arises in science from a false the
DRY, but a bad observation may retard
and has retarded. the progress of science
for years. What these men seek are
exact facts. Theories may be formulated
later. AS the total eclipse lasts only
about one minute and half and occurs
SO seldom, with the imperfect contrivance
heretofore used the results have been
unsatisfactory But photography plays a
large part now in astronomical observa-
tions Since the discovery of the rapid
dry plate method, combined with these
improved instruments, we may expect
startling discoveries? What causes the
corona? What the reversing layer?" Is
it a fact that there are planets nearer
the sun than Mercury?
Prof. Skinner has determined the exact
latitude and longitude for this place-a
thing which he considers very import
ant. He will leave the brick pier which
he has erected as monument to the oc
casion and on it will be marked the lat-
tude and longitude. He has also laid out
meridian line about eleven hundred feet
long by which compasses may be tested.
The whole company were hard at work
all day yesterday drilling.
The reduction of temperature during
an eclipse is considerable sometimes, and
frequently. where there is moisture in the
atmosphere causes a cloud to form after
the eclipse begins.
In 1886. when the eclipse occurred in the
West Indies, though the sky was cloud
less in the beginning. small cloud was
formed which hid both the moon and sun
during the eclipse and disappeared
afterward To avoid such calamity as
this is one cause that has led Prof.
skinner. as well as others, to seek the
dry atmosphere of Pinehurst. Today the
sky were cloudless, the atmosphere cool,
and conditions for a favorable observa-
tion absolutely faultless.
The astronomical party were up early
and at their posts before O'Clock this
morning. The instruments were in a
ropcd enclosure one hundred feet long
al trained on the sun like so many guns
in row. Behind them stood the men in
shirt sleeves like gunners ready for bat
tic. Prof Skinner. in shirt sleeves and
turtle back hat, was everywhere giving
orders which only the operators under
stood. All around the ropes stood specta-
tors with every size and shape of smoked
glass squirting up AT the sun as if they
the eclipse might take place ahead of