The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-17
ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

This afternoon the first eclipse Of the
not be the great astronomical event that
I some eclpses have been, since it will be
only partial, except in the Arctic regions.
There IL will first take the form of an
annular eclipse; that is. the moon will
be too FAR away to hide the whole face
OF the sun, the edges of which viii ap-
pear outside of the circumference of the
moon Before il is over the moon will
| be far enough away to completely cut
OF the sun from earthly view at the
points in the path of tOtality and the
eclipse then will become total. Later
stu i viii again become annulaT after
which the moon viii pass away from be-
lore the face of the sun To America
ABOVE a line drawn from San Francisco
70 corpus Christi, Texas, the eclipse Will
ne partial Below that line it will be in
Perhaps the most remarkable fact con-
nected with eclipses is that astronomers
can predict them with an accuracy down
10 the very minute and for centuries
ahead, yet the state Of the clouds cannot
be fOretOld even a single day. This has
caused many a well-laid plan for eclipse
expeditions to go awry. and the arrange
ments of months and the expenditure of
thousands of dollars to go for naught.
Periods of total eclipse of the sun. are
great events in the lives of those who
wish to fathom the secrets of that great
lumlnary. There are about seventy total
eclipses of the sun in a century. and
their aggregate periods OF totally amount
TO but little more than three hours.
Some OF these are only visible in regions
too remote for the astronomer to reach
while others only can be seen on the
oceans. Still others are obscured by
clouds. so that the astronomer has to
work and think fast when a favorable
opportunity does present itself At most
he has but seven minutes on given
eclipse, and the average is less than
three minutes. The width Of the strip
OF territory over which an eclipse may be
total cannot exceed 167 miles, and ii is
seldom wider than 140 miles Some parts
OF the earth are more favored with total
eclipses than other parts. London never
saw a total eclipse in more than five
hundred years together while Venezuela
saw two in three years. New York has
not seen total eclipse in a century
while Yellowstone park had two in twelve
years.
Eclipse observations are less than
century old In ancient times astrono-
mers were not able to predict eclipses,
At Rome il was a crime to talk about
their being due to natural causes; they
We're believed TO be without the order of
nature, and to presage some dire event
Even after astronomers learned the Sc
cret Of eclipSes the people at large re-
fused to believe it. It is said that Thales
was able to bring about the peace be
tween the Medes and the Lydians by
predicting an eclipse, and that Columbus
impressed his heavenly descent on the
could tell when an eclipse would occur. !
In justice to him it is to be said that he
made such claim in order to get food [
for his men The reason that astrOno- |
mers were so slow in learning how to |
predict echpses and to explain them. was
that while they occurred with regularity /
they occurred at different places on the /
earth, thus effeCtually hiding from the /
astronomers the regularity of their oc-
currence.
The deep interest in the sun which as
tronOmeTs are now taking is due largely /
10 the lessons they learned through /
aclipses. Through them they have learned 1
about the corona. the chromosphere, and /
the solar prOminences. These discover
les have stimulated the most intense in /
terest in the study of the sun. and as /
-rOnOmers are working as they never /
worked before to fathom the mysteries 4
Of the great orb TO which all earthly life /
owes its existence. So great has this in 4
-erest become that an International union 4
for cooperative research has been estab- /
shed, and the astronomers of the world /
come together every few years, forming /
4 clearing house for the information :
gathered between meetings.
Much has already been learned about |
the sun. and the layman must wonder !
and marvel at the genius Of the astronO- /
ner and his ability to acquire the knowl- |
EDGE which has been obtained Yet the /
astronomer thinks only of what is yet /
TO be learned, and the little he knows |
with what he desires to find |
)ut. He will tell you that it is import
mt that he should know more about the /
,onstancy of the sun. He has learned /
hat the heat it throws off varies from
month to month. yet he wants TO know
Why. He has discovered that there is a
'elatiOn between terrestrial magnetism
md sun spots, and probably between
and sun-spOts, but he wants
% know what that relation is. He knows
hat a change of 10 per cent in the ra-
iiation of heat by the sun would result
n a change Of II degrees in the tenn
lerature of our atmosphere.
Astronomers have been able to prove
o a certainty that the sun is approxi-
nately $1,000 900 miles away from the
.arth. They have three standpOints from