Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1918-06-08
SUN TO BE HIDDEN
IN TODAY'S ECLIPSE
Path of Total Eclipse Will
Pass Over Mountain Home
This Afternoon. Very
Rare Phenomena.

The first total eclipse of the sun
to be visible In southern Idaho for
nearly a hundred years will occur
this afternoon. The path of totality
is some twenty miles north of Noun
tain Home and a number of parties
have been made up in town to drive
to the point where the entire show
will be staged
The schedule, based on new time,
or an hour in advance of Pacific time
at Mountain Home shows that the
eclipse will begin at 1853 p. m. To-
tality begins one hour and fourteen
minutes later and lasts one minute
and 43 seconds. Eclipse ends 6;15.
Width of shadow at Mountain Home.
62 miles,
At Baker, Oregon, government ex
perts and scientists have made
elaborate preparations to take all
data and photograph the phenom
enon in it's every aspect, ]. G. Ham
mond of the naval observatory, be-
ing in charge.
The preparations of the United
States government party which is
established for the study of the great
natural phenomenon, have been COM
pleted The mammoth 65-foot cam
has been focused and Is ready for
use. The tube is built solidly, sta
tionary few feet above the ground,
and the direct light of the sun is
kept squarely focused on the lense
by means of mirrors, set on delicately
adjusted instruments, which move in
exact synchronism with the sun,
keeping the light reflected at the
lense from the same angle all the
time The spectroscope and other
instruments have all been set firmly
on concrete bases
DlSudlS nave USCA A1lpii5Cd Nhth
the naval observatory at Washington
by telegraph. 1t was planned to ex-
change signals by radio of the station
at Baker with special permission
from the government. Thus far the
radio has not been made use of for
1t developed that the heights OF the
aerials, erected on the grandstand at
the county fair grounds, where the
station is located, is not sufficient
for use in the mountainous region
such as Baker is located in
j. s. Hammond, who is in charge
of the government party, suggests
that people desiring to make as
much as possible out of the oppor-
tunity to see the sun in eclipse, pre-
pare smoked glass by use of a candle
or some other means, covering the
smoked piece with another, fastened
at the edges. This is easily prepared
and is the most practical instrument.
Ordinary smoked glasses such as is
used for automobile goggles are not
dark enough and would be of no use.
Observers are also warned against
looking at the sun with the naked
eve before the eclipse begins to pass
as this will so dazzle the eye that
the effect of the corona, the most
beautiful spectacle of the eclipse,
will be spoiled.
The two things to watch for in
the eclipse are the corona and the
prominenees and only with smoked
glasses as described, can the ordi-
nary observer meet with much sue
cess or gain results in any way sell
satisfactory
Milton Helm of this city has been
doing thriving business in smoked
glass for the past two days, making
them of large negative glass and
fastening them together according
to the specifications. He has already
sold more than 100 of the glasses
All the stories that have been re-
lated OF eclipses, such as the chickens
going to roost, owls and bats appear
ing and the stars coming out az
midday are true and these conditions
on earth as we'll as those in the dark
ened sky of midday, will be interest
ing objects of observation during The
eclipse
1t will be century before another
total eclipse will be visible from thii
part of the country and people living
in its path in the United States, J.
they ever wish to see the same sigh
will have to visit some far distan
corner of the earth.
or all the country, the people o
the northwest in strip of territor!
so miles wide between South Bend
Washington. and Pocatello, Idaho
will be the most favored.