Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-05-03
TIE ECLIPSE OF THE sun.

common astronomical occurrence. The
sun will be totally. eclipsed, and the
event will be visible 10 parts Of the
United States.
Occasionally, as we know, the moon
passes between us and the sun, cutting
oil tho latter's light completely. This
we call solar eclipse. Lunar eolipses,
on the othcr hand, are caused by the
moons reaching such q position that
the earth is directly between 1t and the
sun. The moon has no inherent brill
liancy like the sun; it shines only by
rejecting solar light; and when that
light ia cut off, the moon simply .tgoes
OUT But the sun is self-luminous,
and is 10 reality shining just the same
when under eclipse as at any other
time. Thus we arrive at this funda-
mental difference between lunar and
solar eolipses. In the former. the moon
having suddenly ceased to receive or
reflect light. the eclipse is observable
wherever the moon, il unecliEsed,
would he visible. But ut any given
moment we ran usually see the moon
from one half the earth's surface. Con-
seg1ently, II a lunar eclipse takes
place, majority of the earth's in.
habitants have an opportunity to OBJ
serve IL, and thus a lunar eclipse il
something that almost any person can
remember to have seen. But it is very
different with the sun. As we have
said, he continues to give light when
ecliEsed: SO that it is only In places
where the sun Is actually covered up
by the moon that lie will seem to he
eclipsed. The moon under eclipse is
like candle that has been ex-
tinguished; 1T Is dark from whatever
side we look ut it. But the ecipsed
sun is like burning candle, which
will be invisible to him only whose
view is INSTRUCTED by the interposition
of some Opaque object.
That OPAQUE object is the moon. But
she is comparatively small, and cannot
render the sun totally invisible from
more than tiny circular or oval spot
on the earth's surface. In the eclipse
of May 2sth that little SPOT will be
only about rs miles wide; and IL the
phase of the eclipse would be seen
nowhere else. But the moon is travel
ing all the time through space in it's
spot is moving, too, and changing its
position gradually upon tbs earth Is
surface. Thus, instead of a spot, we
shall have a long strip or band about
70 miles wide; ard by waiting for the
right moment, it will be- possible to
see totally from any point within this
band. The whole thing is much as
though there were huge pencil, with
its point touching the earth, and
having its other end pisoted to the
sun. II the moving moon were then
also attached to this pencil somewhere
near tine point, she would draw the
Iencil along, and the point would
trace out the eclipse path Of our earth.
Any one standing in that path could
then look along the pencil. and at the
proper moment see tho moon covering
the sun. and osbcuriug his light. II
places situated near this path Of
totality. as it Ia called, we. shall be
able to sec the eclipse, but not as Q
total one For such places the moor
will cover the sun only in part, SO thai
some of his brilliant surface will re-
main in sight. The amount of OBJ
scura!ion always depends upon thu
observers nearness to the totally line
The nearer he is, the more nearly tota
the eclipse will be,
On May 28th the path of totalit,
begins in the Pacific Ocean Just wes
Of Mexico. There the point of th,
huge pencil we have imagined frs
touches onr earth. 1t then passes east
ward across Moxico, and entering thu
United States near New ORLEANS, pro
ceeds in northeasterly direction unit
it leaves the continent close to Norfolk
Va. Then it crosses the Atlantic
touches Portugal, and afterwards
passes across northern Africa, leaving
the earth finally roar the northern enc
| of the Red Sea. In this country th,
cities of New Orleans, La. Mobile
Ala. Montgomery, Ala. Raleigh, N
g., and Norfolk, Va, are all Or tn,
totality path. At New Orleans tn,
sun will be completely covered at 7. 81
O. M, while ut Norfolk this will no
happen until s.53 a. m. In tho forme
city totality will last 70 seconds, ant
| In the latter, 102 seconds. At inter
mediate places both the time ant
duration of totality will fall between
these extreme values. For place
nearer to New Orleans than to Norfoll
the numbers Will be nearer thos
giyen for New Orleans, and WIGS versa
Having thus explained the circum
stances OF this eclipse, we shall nov
touch upon some of the interestin,
things that will be seen IL the SKY i
clear. Total solar eclirseS appea
equally to the general public and Il
the professional astronomer. On tn
ono hand, they present the most superl
! spectacle within the whole range o
astronomy and on the other, they offe
the best opportunity to study the mys
FERROUS structure and composition o
our sun. One of the things to whiol
astronomers attach importance is tn
accurate observation of the times Of be
ginning and ending of the eclipses.
is easy to see that the mathematical
considerations upon which are haseI
our theories of lunar motion will b
put to very severe test in predictin,
the exact instant when the sun will b
covered up by the moon. If observation
agrees with prediction, We have tn
strongest corroboratiye evidence OF tn
correctness of our theory and OF on
numerical calculations. On the othe
A hand, il it he found that the predic
tions are slightly in error, the amour
of that erIo can be determined by oh
ssryation, and mathematical theory thu
corrected for the benefit of future pre-
4 dictions, Although our know ledge i
this department of astronomy ha
reached a very high state OF perfection
it is fact that we cannot predict th
time of eclipse today without q pcssi
bility Of error amounting to severa
seconds Part of this error is due n
doubt to insufficient knowledge of tn
moons size, or to the possibility tina
contact between sun and moon ma
OCCUR at a very irregular or mountain
GUS part of the lunar surface. But eac
eclipse tends to improve our informa