The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-05-26
the eclipse will be total The
the the time

and passes off the peninsula of Florida
at tn Am. m, thus occupying AZ min
utes in sweeping diagonally across our
country.
This very swift motion of the shadow
is one of the many impressive sights
of a total esclipse OF the sun. One any
where on the earth within the shadow
path sees the disc of the moon steadily
moving onto the disc of the sun, until
finally only the narrowest crescent OF
the latter remains uncovered. The dark
ness grows continually greater, and
what sunlight there is is of a reddish
and unnatural color If the observer is
SO situated that he can see for several
miles toward the west. he sees the
shadow OF the moon approaching him
with terrifying suddenness. AS soon as
it falls uron him, day is changed into
night; the planets and the brighter stars
shine out, and we have the strange
phenomenon OF a sudden occurrence OF
night in tho daytime. The very great,
velocity of the shadow (from 1000 to oO0U
miles an hour causes the darkness to
fall with almost instantaneous sudden
ness. The effect upon the observer is
striking. In short time mot more than
two minutes from any place in our
country during the present ecIipse), the
shadow uncovers the observer again; ne
sees it rushing away to the east, and
the eclipse is over.
When the sun is hidden the observer
will see Venus and Mercury shining
out brightly 10 the right of this body;
Jupiter viii be seen a little othe left,
and doubtless Sirius, Rigel, Betelgeuse
and Aldebaran will all be conspicuous
a little lelow the sun. The whole OF
Orion Will probably be seen. tbs beau
tiful constellation lying directly south
Of the ssun and very near it since on
the day of the eclipse the sun is In
Taurus and very little to the west
of the horns of the Bull But even more
striking will be the beautiful red promi-
nences and the wonderful greenish
corona. tie latter extending perhaps to
a distance of 100000 miles from the
edge of the sun.
TO FIND PATH OF SHADOW
The beautiful sights just mentioned
can only be seen from points on the
earth's surface within which the
eclipse is total--that is, only from
points upon which the shadow of the
moon actually falls. From all other
places on the earth the intense light
from the uncovered part Of the sun.
en- though this may be very small
part of the suns surface, produces a
brightness similar to that of twilight
and quite prevents the interesting
features of total eclipse being seen.
It is therefore very necessary to know
exactly what parts OF the earth will
be in shadow, for 1t is only from
" thin the shaow path that a total
eclipse can be viewed. In order to
determine this the reader must in
some way obtain access to our gov
eminent publication. The American
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac,
1918" This is in many city libraries.
or it may be purchased tfor 81 at
many book stores or at the stores
dealing in nautical supplies, or 1t may
be obtained directly from the "Nau-
teal Almanac Office Washington,
d. C. II the reader sends directly to
the Nautical Almana office, however.
he will do much better to order the
Supplement- to the "Ephemeris for
1918 on the Total Eclipse" price. 80
cents).
On page SCI OF this book the reader
will find the positions occupied by the
center of the moving shadow COM
puted for every five minutes of Green
wich time. and also the north and
south limits Of the shadow. and the
duration of the eclipse at each poisi N
BY laying off on good map two or
three Of these points in any vicinity
he can find with great accuracy the
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