South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-10-31
THE HEA VEINS IN NOVEMBER

mere VIII be a partial eclipse OF
the sun on the morning Of Nov. 10.
which viii bee generally visible over
the eastern and north central por-
tions Of North America, including.
Of course. all the eastern states. with
the exception OF the gulf states. and
all the states lying. roughly. north
and east OF a line Joining northern
Florida and northern Ctah. The
United states is we'll covered in the
table printed below, in which are
given the times Of beginning and
ends. as viii be observed in Certa in
cities lying within the favored re-
gion.
The eclipse, as noted above. will
be partial only and all the beauty
and wonder which accompanies the
total eclipse OF the sun will be en-
tirely absent. In spite OF the fact
that in many localities a very an
preciable proportion Of the suns
disk will be found 20 be covered. no
noticeable diminution OF the gen
eral illumination will be observed
by a person without scientific instru-
ments, and, 70 see the eclipse itself,
one must make use of a smoked or
tinted glass. or. as the writer has
found, "a phOtOgra phic negative hav-
ing a dense black portion such as
that produced by a picture includ-
ing a brilliant white Illuminated
surface.
Causes of Eclipse OF the sun.
Although a total solar eclipse diff
fers radically in appearance and
visible phenomena from a partial
eclipse, the underlying cause OF the
two phenomena is, Of course. tae
same. As the earth revolves about
the sun, keeping always in the one
plane. called the ecliptic, so the
moon revolves in an elliptic orbit
about the earth. The plane of the
moons orbit makes only a slight
angle with the ecliptic plane. about
81 degrees, but 1t is continually
swinging about the earth as a CEN
ter. The line in which the ecliptic
and the plane of the moons orbit
intersect is called the line Of
nodes"
Every time the moon gets be-
tween the earth and the sun we have
a new phase, but we co not have an
eclipse Of the sun at each new moon.
because the moon is not directly in
line between earth and sun, and thus
does not cut of the rays Of the sun
from us. When the latter does O.
cur, II IS because the new moon
happens when the moon is on or
within a certain number of degrees
Of the line Of nodes. for the sun,
earth and moon are all in the same
plane. or nearly So
II this condition is very closely
fulfilled, the solar eclipse will be to-
tai, the moons shadow will actual
~ touch the earth's surface; if the
eclipse is only partial as in this
case, the penumbra, OF half shadow
thrown by the moon, alone touches
the earth. There IS then no place
at all on the earth from which the
eclipse will be seen as a total.
OF course, not every new moon
brings with il a solar eclipse for Us,
because Of the rotation OF the lunar
orbital plane and of the line of
nodes with it. Thus following a new
moon with an eclipse, the next new
moon will take place with the moon
/ out of the lire OF nodes and there
I fore above or below the plane Of
the ecliptic and not obstructing our
I view of the sun. 1t sometimes does
1 happen that two eclipseS follow one
another for the reason that sun and
moon are not geOmetric points BY
any means and the moon has a GER
tain allowance in distance from the
/ line of nodes for effecung an eclipse,
and the two eclipses may be at op-
posite limits on the opposite sides Of
the line OF nodes.
Data of the Solar Eclipse.
The following table has been talk
en- from the American Ephemeris
and Nautical Almanac; il gives, I'm
addition 70 the exact time of be-
ginning and end OF the forthcoming
eclipse. the fraction of the suns
surface which will be covered by the
moon as seen from the general Vi
Cinity of the city:
LNtnnlnrd -rimn for I.ceatinnl