The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-27
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
The Observations Next May Will he
Unprecedented.
fst. Loui. GLOBE Dsmocrst)

/
Observations Of the total solipss Of the
sun, advertised for May %, viii be con.
Quoted IN some ways sxtrsmsly interest
ing and altogether unprecedented. For
example, photography Is to be employed
to an extent unthought Of on any previ-
Gus occasion OF the kind, Involving not
only the exposure of the many Thousands
Of plates for scientific record, bot mol
ldentally an attempt to secure moving
pictures of the phenomenon. II this lat
tar purpose can be accomplished, IL will
be practicable to exhibit some sort Of
oounterfsit Of the wondrous speotscle by
machine, just rs though 1t were prize
fieht, ami thsater audiences all over the
country will have q chance 10 admire It
between turns Of vaudeville.
Another new experiment Of Importance
will be the preparation OF . continuous
circuit by the Western Union Company
all along the path of the coming eclipse
from New Orleans to Norfolk, In order
that 10 may be practicable literally to tel
graph ahead Of the moon. But, to make
this clearly understood, 10 ought to be ex-
planned that the shadow Of the lunar orb,
after passing over Mexico In an sasteriy
direction, reaches New orlsa2s at 1871 9.
m, and, constituting on its way, does
not arrive ut Norfolk until $50 q. m.
This allows period OF nearly an hour
and half, during which the phenome-
non may BE- watched from different
points on Its track across the southeast
srn portion Of the United States.
Though the mighty shadow moves at the
rate Of 1. 0c0 miles an hour, 1t IL easy
enough to overtaks IL with electric spark,
and thus, In case an astronomical obssrv-
er near Atlanta. say. noticed anything
peculiar, he could wire to sons Of the
stations further along, requesting the
observers at these points to look out spec.
tally for the matter In question.
The paths Of eolipsas are very apt to be
located In out-of-the-way parts OF the
world, so that astronomers are OBLIGED TO
travel great distances In order to witness
them. Luckily, however. this particular
e,iipse srranRes itself so that the shadow
OF the moon will pass directly through
one of the most densely settled sections of
| the United States, ths oities OF New Or
leans, Mobile, Montgomery, Raleigh and
Norfolk, az well as many minor towns
lying directly within the shadowpsth.
sons will have an opportunity to see that
most wonderful spectacle OF astronomy,
| the solar oorons-a phenomenon which Is
never visible except ON the occasion OF
total ECLIPSE OF the sun. Already Hstron-
omera are making preparations to locate
atations along the shsdow-path, and to
| carry out scientific Observations on an ex-
tsnsive seals.
The ohief fssr is lsst clouds interfere
with observation, and, in order to give
help In this matter, the United states
weather bureau has made q survey Of the
sky during the last three years along the
path that viii be traversed By the
shadow. As o result, 1t Ia able to point
| out the localities where the heavens are
most likely to be free Ut clouds, Central
Georgia and Eastern Alabama, being
found to offer the most promising condl-
lions. Just after sunrise the shadow will
enter Mexico from tho west, and when IL
leaves this country. near Norfolk, IL Will
GROSS the Atlantic Ocean and touch Eur
op at Coimbar, Portugal. Naxt 1t will
take In Algiers and Northern Africa, and
| will vanish at sunset near the northern
end of the Red sea. IL will cross Spain
in the afternoon after O'Clock.
| astronomers nowadays are mora inter-
ested In the corona than In any other
feature OF total eclipse. Nor need tnis
he wondered at. inssmuch a. this phe-
nomenon Ia wholly q mystsry, no salts
factory explanation of 1t having been
| found. At the period Of "totaiity"-f q,
when the facs OF the sun Is entirely hid
den by ths moon--a pale halo Of light IL
seen enoircling the dark body OF the In.
mar orb. Bsing so pale, as compared
with the sun Itself, this halo Is never OBJ
servable except when the moon Inter-
poses herself bet seen the sun and the
earth; hence the great eagerDsss Of as
tronomers to use those few precious mo-
ments for the purpose OF Watching the
phenomenon In question. Commonly
the observer who Is to take special note
| Of ths corona on tho OCCASION of special
eoiipss naa hia eyes bandaged for ten
minutes before 'totality," 60 that they
may be acutely sensitive to the falntsst
| rays. 1hep, as we'll az he can, he
sketches Its appearance. and most partic-
ularly the wonderful stresmers which are
seen extending from the sun 10. 000, 0C0
miles or more into space.
Now, where are those streamera? The
| ansv er IL that nobody knows What Is
| it shat composes the haio-like envsiop OF
| the sunl Nobody can tell that either
II Is surmtsed by Some astronomers that
| the corona 10 composed OF star dusr-me-
teoric matter In finely divided state.
whioh IL rendered visible by rejecting
/ tina radiance of the solar atmosphere.
A mother theary Is that it Is electrical,
and vat another that 1t represents case
Qua atmosphere surrounding the sun. IL
| was Professor 5. p. Langley who. In 1873,
discovered the coFonal streamers from the
summit of Pixies Peak; but rs far back
as 1869 Professor Young found in the
oorona q substance unlike anything
known on tine earth, to which No gave
tbs name "oorcpium."
Another curious thing noticed at the
period OF ''totalityi' is the shooting out
Of vivid rosy-oolored flames around the
sd ge OF the moon. These nave been phot-
ographed, and 10 hiss even been ascer-
lined by spectral analysis ii az they are
composed chiefly of hydroger-ot course.
iu tremendous state of combustion.
1hsss faT es spring up from the burning
shell or enevlop Of the 50, aud 10 has been
estimated by Langley thas whereas
the shell itself may be 5000 thick, the
jets in question leap outward from <0,0OC
to 1900 mileA Some of them are so great
In size as to suggest the idea OF truptions
from solar volrauces engsudsrsd on u
scale incoBoeixahly vast.
Photography vas first successfully ap-
piled to a to al eclipse In 1915 al Konigs-
berg, when tine records were obtained,
not only OF the rudy flames which burst
lsxE - H.