The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-25
Astronomers on
Sheridan Due
Today.
FAMOUS MEN OF
OBSERVATORlES
They are Sent by Uncle Sam to
see the Suns Corona for
Five Minutes.
/ BOARD the United states army

N SnSrlQdn, W01cn Is que
IA to arrive at this port from San
Francisco today, is the Naval
Observatory's scientific expedition to
Sumatra.
The astronomers who have planned a
trip to a remote and almost inaccessi-
BILE corner of the earth that will keep
them out Of civilization for over five
months, and all for the slight scientific
advantage that is to be gained from a
five minutes view of the suns corona,
are on the Sheridan, on which the Fed
eral Government has undertaken to
transport them and their scientific equi-
page to Manila.
Considerable interest attaches to the
expedition, for the reason that it is the
largest and best-equipped expedition of
the kind that has ever gone to such a
distance to view solar eclipse. The
party on the Sheridan is conducted
under the auspices of the Government.
in accordance with the provisions of
a Congressional appropriation of $4,000
and is in charge of Professor A. n.
Skinner of the Naval Observatory. The
Naval Observatory party also includes
Professor w. S. Eichelberger. United
States navy; Assistant Astronomer F.
B. Littell, Photographer George n.
Peters, Assistant L. p, Jewell and As
sistant w. w. Dinwiddie. Through the
courtesy of the Government several
other scientific men have been attach
ed to the expedition. They are Profess
sor E. E. Barnard of the University of
Chicago, in charge of the Yerkes OBJ
servatory at Williams Bay, Wis; DR..
w. j. Humphreys and DR.. II. d. Curtis
| of the University of Virginia. DR.. N. e.
| Gilbert of the Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, Baltimore, and DR.. s. A. Mitchell
of Columbia University, New York.
An Independent expedition from the
Smithsonian Institute, represented by
Charles Greeley Abbot and Paul A.
Draper of the Astrophysical Observa
tory at Washington. D. c., accompanies
the big expedition to Sumatra.
| Although the eclipse in which we
are interested does not come off until
May IT," said Professor Skinner while
lin San Francisco, 1--WE have deemed it
| prudent to leave at this early date on
account of the great distance we have
to travel and the amount of prelimin-
ary work on the day of the eclipse.
We go to Manila on the Sheridan and
from Manila we will go aboard a war
vessel that will be placed at our dis
/
war vessel will take us to Padang. a
port on the west coast of Sumatra, and
from there we will journey inland over
a little coal railroad to Solok, eighty
lmiles distant. Our present plans are to
lestablish our observatory station at
iSolok, which is fifty minutes south lati-
! tude, and near enough to the central
lline of totality to give US five minutes
land fifty-f1ve seconds In which to con-
duct our scientific observations of the
phenomena The period of totality on
the central line is six minutes and
: twenty-four seconds. Difficulties OF
!. Transportation in that country, how
lever, will probably induce US to locate
lat Solok."
| The several members of the party
have been busy for weeks past acquir-
: ing all the information available about
: the west coast of Sumatra, in which
they have been aided greatly by the
Dutch Government, and they say they
have more than reasonable hopes OF
finding excellent atmospheric condf-
tions on the day of the eclipse.
Some of the most inpoit tant work OF
4 the expedition will be done by Profes-
r sor Barnard, who hopes to secure
a some of the best negatives of the suns
corona ever obtained. The apparatus
: which he used so successfully in photo
graphing the eclipse in North Carolina
: last May will be used during the COM
ling eclipse. He will set up horizonta,
= tube sixty-one feet long, one end con-
meeting with dark room in which the
: Photographic plates will be exposed
1.-THE other end containing the lens ant
t shutter. In front of the lens will bt
!, mounted coelostat. mechanical con
: ltrivance that will reflect the picture o.
the corona and sun flames. by mean.
lof a mirror, into the Photographic len!
I. and through the sixty-one feet of tub,
: Ito the exposed surface of the sensitizet
+ lplate in the dark room. Professor Bar
> lnard has planned to make a number o
y exposures on different sized plates il
$ this manner. The plates will be rigget
; in a sliding vertical frame capable o
r being moved up and down like win
a dow frame, so that when one plate i
y sufficiently exposed he can 'quickl,
e move another into place. He will max
= one exposure of two and one-half min
q lutes on a plate forty inches square an,
10 he hopes the results secured on thi
d plate viii determine the scientific ques
ton as to whether there exists any in