Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-26
MOON WILL VANISH
ON FRIDAY NIGHT
Total Eclipse Will Begin at L
O'clock and Last Over Two
Hours-Will Be an Interesting
Spectacle.
The moon entering the penumbra OF th'
earth's shadow.

announcement is made by the gentIe-
men who keep cases on the movements
Of the heavenly bodies and Atlah'a
weather that there will be something 40
ing among the celestial worlds III INC
| ''wee sma' hours of Friday nlgnt' Vi
rather Saturday morning
Reeinning at Ill a. m, according 10
the officials of the United States weather
bureau, there will be an occultatlol,-
whatever that is-of the moon py IlIe
shadow os the earth.
Investigation of the meaning OF .hls
startling news developed the fact tnal
there will be an eclipse of the moon "a.
day night. beginning at Iii a. m. ana
lasting until 4:s8 o'clock At 2;lS Ihe
moon will be totally obscured. ana she
will remain absolutely dark until $3.50.
People who sit up in Atlanta until the
hour mentioned AND who are otherwise
in a condition to do so, will have an eN-
cellent view of the "occultation, Whlch
will be very nice for them and absolutely
inoffensive to the moon.
The scientific reason for the eclipse Is
that the earth, moon and sun VIII De III
rectIy in line. with the earth between
the other two bodies. When our earth Is
o. 600 600 miles from the sun, its SHADOW
poIxes out on the other side like a fishing
rod for a trifle of 200 miles AS every
body who moves in good society Knows
the moon is a mere stones throw
measly 100000 miles away from us. III
will be at once apparent that wheh Ihe
moon strolls casually through the shadow
of the earth it will cease to shine, and 20
out after the manner Of candle. Just
lizeN that.
1t may not be amiss at this point to
call attention to the fact that-popular
! impression to the contrary-the moon
shines with q reflected radiance, as do
| lesser luminaries in other walks of life,
! and does not give out beams like an arc
! light
! Astronomers make great preparations to
study such an eclipse, because ii is only
during the few moments of totality that
the pale corona which surrounds the sun
can be seen. Formerly the red flames
known as solar prominences could he
seen only during a total eclipse, but the
| spectroscope now affords excellent OPP
portunities for observing them. Lunar
! eclipses are of some astronomical impor-
lance, since they have helped us to fix
certain dates of events in ancient history.
The date of the Christian era is deteTmin-
ed by referring to an eclipse of the moon
which occurred the night before Herod
dad.
Another interesting use of lunar eclipse
is tle opportunity afforded the possessor
of z telescope to study the moons sur
facA during the rapid changes produced
by de sudden reduction of light. Certain
lunar .craters, such as the small crater
Lime, are surrounded by a grayish or
white halo which Is conspicuous at sun
rise, but which becomes very small or
vanishes entirely during the middle of the
lunar day. There is evidence that the
halo of Lime suddenly became larger
during a total eclipse of the moon in re-
cent years.
The atmosphere surrounding the earth
defects the suns light, and thus causes
the moon at the time of a total eclipse to
be family Illuminated by a copper colored
light. The amount of illumination de-
Ponds upon the condition of the earth's
atmosphere at the points through which
the suns rays are DETECTED. II clouds
are present, the atmosphere is more or
less Opaque, and therefore cuts off the
light which would otherwise make the
disk of the moon visible. In the eclipse
of 1856 such an event occurred, the moon
becoming entirely invisible to the naked