Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1918-06-07
RARE sun ECLIPSE
MAY Be SEEN HERE
SATURDAY EVENING
ONE OF NATURES MOST IMPRESS
SIVE PHENOMENA WHEN sun
DARKENED-SHADOW TRAVELS
AT TERRIFIC SPEED.

Saturday afternoon the United States
will be visited by total eclipse of
the sun, that, for extent of available
territory covered within this country,
will rank first among all solar eclipes
of the twentieth century.
The eclipse should witnessed in
Americas about to o'clock In the
evening, according to advises from
the weather bureau at Washington.
While the actual path will be about
zoe miles south of Americas, the
eclipse here will be probably more
than 80 per cent total. The partial
phase of the eclipse will be visible
throughout the entire North Ameri-
can continent. The magnitude of the
partial eclipse will, of course, be
greater the nearer the observer is
situated to the path of totally.
The path of the total eclipse will
cross the country diagonally from
Washington state to Florida, a dis
lance of approximately 1850 miles.
The width of the path will vary from
about sixty-five miles in Washington
to scarcely forty miles in Florida.
oMre than eighty towns that can be
reached by rail will lie within the
shadow path
The distance travelled by the moons
shadow within the United States is
about one-third of its total length.
1t will first touch the earth at point
in the Pacific ocean, south of Japan,
at Sunrise. From this point it will
sweep for fully 5000 miles across the
vast expanses of the Pacific ocean,
touching, in its course, only two
charted islands, Borodino and st.
Peters Island. Accomplishing this
journey in about two hours and fifteen
minutes, it will reach the mouth of
the Columbia river at 1855 p. M, Pa
cifc time.
1t will then pass at frightful speed
in southeasterly direction across the
country 1t will go through Baker
City, Ore, at 4:O5, Pacific time; Pota-
tello, Idaho, at 5:13, Mountain time;
Denver, $50, Mountain time; Guth-
REF Okla, 6:32, Central time, and
Jackson, Miss, 6:37, Central time,
reaching the Atlantic coast in Florida
at 7:42, Eastern time. Scarcely two
minutes later it will leave the earth
at sunset, beyond the Bahama Islands,
400 miles at sea, Its journey across
the United States will be accomplished
in forty-seven minutes.
The rate at which the shadow
sweeps over the land will vary from
about thirty miles a minute in Wash
ington to more than one hundred
miles a minute in the Southern states.
The most advantageous positions
for observing the total eclipse will lie
in the western part of the country, in
Oregon, Idaho and Colorado. Here
the altitude Of the sun will be great
er, weather conditions more favorable
and the duration of the total phase,
only two mintes at the most, will be
longer. To observe the eclipse in the
Southern states an unobstructed view
of the horizon will be necessary, since
the suns altitude will be only about
ten degrees in Mississippi at mid
totally and five degrees in Florida.
Preparations have been made by
most large observatories in the United
States to send eclipse expeditions to
the path of totality Congress reog-
nized the scientific Importance of OBJ
serving this eclipse by appropriating
a sum to be used for the United States
naval observatory eclipse expedition
No such extensive shadow has
passed over this county since the noted
eclipse of 1878. Nor will there be an
other such shadow in any considerable
portion of the United States until
August q, 2O17. While the eclipses
are more frequent, too often the
shadow is in the wilds, the deserts,
or sea, where the phenomena cannot
be studied by observers.