New-York tribune., 1900-07-01
PICTURES OF THE ECLIPSE.
RESULTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDI-
TON AT WADESBORO.
FINE PHOTOGRAPHS DEVELOPED WITH GREAT
LABOR-THE FOREIGN ASTRONOMERS.


Washington, June 30.-The Photographic
plates taken Of the eclipse by the Smithsonian
Astrophysical EN- l,.i,.on have many of them
been developed. The results, happily. repay the
great labor and expense involved, and will be
a valuable accession to the knowledge of the
sun and its surroundings that has been so slow
ly acquired through the ages. The handling and
developing OF these plates a difficult and
delicate matter, because OF their great size and
weight and because Of the care necessary to keep
the thick gaatine films with which both sides
were coated from melting; this prevented
by using ice water and working on them in
room which had been cooled by artificial means.
Some idea of the pains and work necessary can
be gained from the fact that it took quite six
hours to develop and clear each plate, and all
day to wash them.
The Smithsonian party, headed by Mr.. Lang
ley, and comprising Mr.. Abbot, Mr. Smile, in
charge of photography; Mr.. Putnam, of the
United States Coast Survey; Mr. Fow!e, Mr..
Mendenhall, Mr.. Child, Mr.. Draper, Mr. Kramer
and Mr. Smith, made its camp at Wadesboro,
N c. where Professor Young, of Princeton;
Professor Hale, of Yerkes Observatory; the Rev.
j. NJ. Bacon Of the British Astronomical Asso-
ciation and several smaller parties were also
located, making the assembly at Wadeshoro one
of the largest parties of eclipse observers ever
brought together for scientific purposes The
chief object of the Smithsonian party was the
Investigation of the corona; they planned TO
study the detailed structure of the inner corona
with the camera to determine by the bo!ometer
whether appreceble heat reaches the earth from
H. and to examine If possible. the form of its
spectrum energy curve Mr.. Langley, when OBJ
serving the eclipse Of 1878 from Pixies Peak, had
remarked a wonderful and beautiful flamentary
structure in the corona. never found in any
photographs He aimed at the last eclipse to
study further this inner coronal region with
more powerful Photographic telescope than any
before used for this purpose, and to observe
again the corona through the same telescope,
the property of the Naval Observatory, which
he had used on Pixies Peak, for purpose of COM
parison.
Through the courtesy of Professor Pickering.
Mr Langley secured the telescope belonging to
Harvard University, with the twelve inch
achromatic lens of 135 feet focus, which fur
nishes focal image Of more than fifteen inches
diameter This instrument mounted in such
a way as TO give horizontal beam, and used
with thirty inch square plates before a cnlostat
cock-driven mirror, by Brashear. Of IS inches
aperture. The Harvard telescope was supple
mented by one loaned by Professor Young, a five
Inch lens of thirty eight feet focus which formed
images upon II by ii inch plates moved in the
focus Of the lens by a water clock and was
pointed directly at the
The Photographic work gives fine results and
while all the negatives have not yet been de-
veloped, those of the half second two seconds
and four seconds exposure of the direct corona
negatives taken with the 135 foot telescope,
show clearly the crossing and recrossing of fila
ments, which look like field of waving grain,
but not in such detail observed by Mr. Lang
ley on Pixies Peak where the conditions were
much more favorable. The promnences and
polar streamers appear also in magnificent de
tail