Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-11-16
THE MOON IN ECLIPSE
Satellite In Shadow For Over
Three Hours Tonight
DARKENING BEGINS AT 4.44
The Eclipse Is Visible Ia The Greater
Part OF The United States


occur tonight. The spectacle will be
visible in Annapolis just as the sun
goes down. The shadow will be
visible to Europe and Africa and in
part to North and South America and
Southwestern Asia.
The eclipse will be the last in the
series of four. two of the sun and
two of the moon, announced for the
present year, and it will afford an
interesting exhibition we'll worth
observing should the sky be favor
able. The phenomenon may be viewed
to good advantage without any opti-
cal assistance whatever, and a tele-
scope will not be necessary, for an
eclipse of the moon may be seen just
as we'll by the naked eye under favor
able atmospheric conditions.
The eclipse will be visible from
beginning to end throughout the
greater portion Of the United States,
the weather permitting. and the
moon will remain in the earth's
shadow for three hours and fourteen
minutes. The eclipse beginning at
convenient hour in the evening,
it will occur under the most favor
abe conditions for observation
should the weather be pleasant, and,
next to the recent appearance of Hal
ley's comet, it will be the most popu-.
lar celestial event of the year.
When the moon is immersed in the
earth's shadow her disk will appear
dimmed, as if covered with a dark
veil, and her unusual faintnesS to the
time of her "full'' cannot fail to at
tract attention if clouds do not OBJ
scure the view. The total phi ase
will begin at 500 p. m. and end az
CAT p. m, but the moon will not
leave the outer shadow until $3.50 p.
m, the entire eclipse having lasted
five hours and eleven minutes. -
To see the face of the moon dim
med and almost wholly obscured,
then shining with its greatest bril-
liancy and splendor, is a spectacle
that cannot fail to excite the wonder
and admiration of the most unscien-
tific observer, and one we'll calculated
to inspire feeling of reverence and
humiliation in the mind of every
thoughtful person. In this enlight-
ened age, when the cause of clipses
is so well understood, and their &C.
currence is accurately predicted and
announced by astronomers, most per-
sons are apt to overlook the wonder
full nature of such phenomena, taking
it for granted that the predictions
will be verified, as they always have
been. without considering the amount
of labor required in foretelling them,
and the dreadful feeling of alarm
with which they are still observed by
the uncivilized nations of the earth.
The earliest observation of luna
eclipses were made at Babylon by
the Chaldeans in the years 7l9 and
720 B. c. They relate to three
eclipses, and are the first observa-
tions of the kind on record. The
term eclipse" is derived from the
Greek word ekleipsis, which signi-
fies to fail, to faint or swoon away,
as the moon, at her full" and per-
iod of greatest brilliancy, falling
into the shadow of the earth, as
imagined by the ancients to "sicken
and swoon, as if she were going to
die" An eclipse of the moon is
produced by the moon passing into
the earth's shadow, which can never
occur except at the time of full
MOON" when the moon is in opposi-
tion and rises at sunset, the earth
coming between the sun and moon and
casting a dark shadow over the
moons disk.
The earth's shadow being produced
by the earth's intercepting the suns
light. and as the sun is more than a
million times larger, it will be obvi-
Gus that this shadow must be conical
in form. If small globe or ball be
held in front of a bright light and
its shadow be allowed to fall upon the
wall or screen, it will be noticed
that around the dark shadow there
will appear fainter one. The same
is equally true in regard to the earth
and its shadow, the dark shadow be-
ing known as the umbra, while the
lighter one is termed the penumbra.
When the moon enters the latter or
outer shadow her light, produced by
rejecting that received from the
sun, is only partially obscured, but
If at any time the moon comes within
the former her light is nearly if not
wholly obscured, and total eclipse