Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1918-05-31
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At sunrise June of this year will
occur one of the greatest of sky phe-
nOmcna On that day the moon. in
its travels around the earth. will cast
between the earth and the sun a
shadow l67 miles wide. and this
shadow which will appear AT a time
of day when II will he visible to a
large proportion of the warld's pop
ulation. will travel over the earth at
the rate of between ! 900 and 5000
miles an hour.
The shadow will first appear ut
sunrise on June (it will be June
8 in the United Statcs) ON the little
island of Bor0dno off the coast Of
Japan. IL then will sweep eastward
and. having by this time attained a
speed of 33 miles Il minute will ar
rive = hours and - minutes later.
or at 2:55 p. m, Pacific time, at the
mouth of the Columbia river in TN"
State of Washington.
For the next ~ minutes people in
every part of the United States in
those sections of course favored with
clear skies will be- privileged 10 Wit
ness an eclipse of III" sun such as
has not been seen in this country in
a great many years
Tn" last great eclipse observed in
America was that of May -. 1900,
but the one Of this year will surpass
is both in total path length and III"
availabl" territory which il covers
The sam" l. tru" with rcf"rrnc" to
the eclipse of 1873. although III" one
in 1863 "uiIalod thr coming one in
total path length
From the Columbia river IA" path
OF III" total rclips" will sweep south
east. will pass tn" Mississippi river
at 5:31 p. m. central time. and Will
leave the coast uf Florida at i ~
Eastern time. Thrr" minutes later
II will he lost in the sunset 500 mile,
at sea
tNO'c II should be remembered
that in estimating tim" from figures
here given. the daylight saving sys-
TEN must be taken into account, the
difference making all time one hour
later,
Those persons living in the track
OF the eclipse. those sufficiently
interested To travel to- "A point in the
path. will be the only ones able to
see tn" eclipse in totality. Residents
OF other sections of the coun'ry will
see 1t only partially, according TO
their distance from the track. hut ii
nevertheless will be- an imposing
sight.
Durant. being about sixty miles
distant from the center of the path
OF tOtality, will SO" the cclips" in gS
per cent of it's totality Every thirty
miles from the center of the path of
totaliay decreases the tOtality to b..
observed for instance in South Tex
as the sun will be but about three
fOurths Obscured
Scientists have noted with inter
est that tn" coming eclipse is a re-
turn OF the one of 1900. The length
OF the Saros. or interval bctween the
eclipses, was determined by the an
eient ChaldranS as Is years, II L.,
days Go l-3 days If five leap years
had intervened). The eclipse of
May 2S. 1900. occurred about \ a.
m. if is years. | Ia days he add
ed TO this. II can easily be seen how
al may he expected to return al 4 y.
N. on June \, 1919. As a matter OF
TACT a strict calculation will throw
this in doubt only few minutes.
The following data. descriptiye of
eclipses OF the sun was prepared by
Rev. Father J. B. Goesse. professor
or astronomy at the st. Louis Uni
versity:
!in an eclipse of the sun. the
moons shadow passes over part Of
the earth. The greatest width of the
shadow is 1867 miles II passes ov-
er the observer at the equator at the
rate OF 1860 miles AL hour. but for