The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-29

w ~ s''''N ~ ,'" Nv "Ni' Vi'ft SuhNu~
merina shadows conirg and going In swift
vibrations AS YOU may see the heat waves
trembling in the air when he thermometer ID
in the nine,ies. If you had any doub, as to the
Precise word with WI ich to characterize the
different phases Of the mysterious. light thas
cnvclopcd everything. one o. theNharned OBJ
servers came to your relief. His was about tie
only vd g heard in the solemn cathedral-lik0
hush that !cll upon the hundreds OF people
gathered In subd led groups on the hill crest.
He had m assistant with n notebook who stood
az his elbow ready 10 take down his winged
words rs they fell from his lips.
Darker. he said In the tone OF a man who
notes a mathematical fact. pat down darker"
Darker was put down.
Weird" he remarked. put down WEIRD
Weird was recorded,
Solemn. It's solemn. Put down solemn"
And solemn Il was.
IVAN, put down wan. Sickly. its nov
sichlv, Put down siclly And 20 on through
AL the changes. so that the audience knew
just where they were at every moment, and
II they slipped n cog there was the assistants
notebook 10 refer to and tell them. for ia.
stance, that AZ sii;li il was sickly. 1t was
quite n boon TO the masses 10 Lave this.
WAITED SIXTY YEARS TO srN II.
or all the amateur observers none waa
happier and non went awav more thoroughly
pleased with the spectacle and everything per.
tanning TO il than = Is Elliott, who came all the
way from Rey noldsville, out in western Penn.
sylvania, TO see 1t. lie Is 70 years old and
IA Keen amateur astronomer.
Il read about this 1861 eclipse in a book my
father had. lac said That was sixty years
ago and ! was n b v 10 wears old. Ii seemed
ages and ages ahead of me then and wondered
If would ever live To see II. have never lost
il ont OF my mind from that day To this. lgotto
be 80 years old and it was then twenty years or:
but years did not seem TO me then such Q
mighty stretch of time A. they did when | was Q
boy Of ten. and | thought | might live 10 see it.
! have been looking forward to II ever sincs.
Indeed, | might say | have been looking for.
ward 10 II all my life. and row have seen IL.
TT vas great, beat ANYTHING ! had ever
dreamed II would be like ] am happy. You
may say without any qualification that am
happy, happy all the way through And Mr..
Elliott looked ii. and 1t may be said without
offence that he looked hale and hearty enough
20 be on deck with his two excellent little tele-
scol eS at the next great sollr eclipse event in
the United Statos. which Is billed by the astron-
omers 10 come of in the year 1913. Mr. Elliott
is a pro porous clyii engineer out In Pennsyl.
vania and has found time while getting rich 10
keep pace with astronomical studies and to
keep track OF the sun. moon and stars at the
little private observatory Of his own which he
has fitted up in his house in ReynoldsvNle.
PROV. LANGLEY's SUMMARY or RESULTS.
Prof Langley Of the Smithsonian Institution
gave out for the press this evening the follow
tpt, p,,np,ory nf tho pbaaryntip ns which hA
and his corps Of scientists and assistants
made;
The total eclipse Of the sun was observed
here under a cloudies- sky. All the observa-
tons planned by the Smiths Man party were
carried out without miscarriage 90 far as can
now be determined. Numerous Photographic
exposures were made with "a I35-foot focus
telescope on the reflected image of the corona
ind 10 obta n a fash spectrum Independently
Of a ss-foot focus telescope, pointed directly on
the sun, while an automatic apparatus was used
To determine with precision the tim y Of the
four contacts
"Five cameraS were employed in the study OF
the outer corona and In the search for intra.
mer cirial planets. The bolometOr was used
to-day for the FIRST time in connection with an
eclipse Of the sun, and by It's aid tho heat or the
corona was successfully observed. probably for
the first time also.
The shadow bands were seen and photo
grayhcd under favorable conditions. and me.
teorologicai observations were conducted.
Visual observations and sketches we're made
and the observations will, II j. hoped. prove suo-
CeSSiul throughout. > J. LANGLEY.
For some reason. as yet unexplained. the
Smithsonian time signals did not work The
Princeton people had been looking AT the first
contact Of the eclipse for five seconds before
the Smithsonian observers found out that an
eclipse was on The bell which was TO an
nounce the instant OF contact was just that
length of time benin the procession.
The Yerkes Observatory people also depended
upon this bell and some mishaps might very
well have happened in consequence OF the
error. As IL was, Prof. Barnard's last photo
graph with the big 82-ioot camera was caught
with a little corner of the uncovered sun ap-
pearing in it In" fact. however, will not
materially damage the picture. In all
seven pictures were taken with the ierkes
monster camera They are on plates Is
by 80 inches, and should show the corona
and corona ktreomers even letter than the
pictures taken by the Smithsonian i35-foot
camera. In the latter the same sized plates
are used as In the lerkeS camera, and the body
Of the sun will come 40 much nearer to Nling
them that there will be scant room for the
s,rramcrI. There will be compensation for
this. however, in IN" greater detail gwen OF the
corona proper.
Prof. 4 {. Child Of the Smithsonian said that
in the north polar region Of the sun he saw
obou, fifteen strcnmerI of even and regular
structure and with firm bright centres. In tie
south polar region the sirramers were rolling
from n point not near the centre Of the sun, but
II ar Ia limb. They were OF somewhat 1ner
structure than those in the north polar region.
md some Of them crossed. On the lett limb u
the sun there was n very perceptible eruptivs
solar prominence with n detached fan and exc
tending aboF one-tcnth OF the iametor of the
sun This was Of a deep scarlet red In color.
The corona was blush green.
Mr.. Ncvil Maskelyne. one Of the observers OF
the British Astronomical Association. took 600
clnomatocraph photographs Of the eclipse. $50
of which were during totality.
None of the observers has as yet worked out
tic eyact times OF the different contacts. but
in n general way u j. established that tho
nc,nal hour of the eclipse was about "
sec,nds behind tho computed hour, which for
the t74t contact was ! O'Clock 30 minutes 10
seconds There il still some confus' on In tho
records from The five seconds delay on the part
Of ,hc Smithsonian observers in sounding
the slenalbe'l.
Prof. Youag and the Princeton party will
loaye for home tomorrow night They will do