The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-12-02
SUN ECLIPSE TO DARKEN
|. EARTH MORNING JAN. "a
MILLIONS TO WITNESS PHE-
NOMENON IN TERRITORY
NEVER BEFORE OBSCURED.
OCCURS ONCE IN 800 YEARS


Light of Sun Has Not Been Wholly
Obscured by the Moon. 1t Will Be
Photographed by Scientists.
For a few minutes on the morning
of January "a next the moon will get
between the earth and the sun and
cut off all the light we get from that
body. This eclipse will be visible in
the United States, and it doubtless
will be seen by more millions of peo-
pie than any such occurrence in the
past, according to Prof f. W. Brown,
of Yale university.
| An eclipse is not a rare event-one
or two occur every year-but the one
next January is notable for the fact
that it will occur in a territory from
which the light of the sun has not
been wholly obscured by the moon
within the memory of anyone living.
IF we look over the records of
past eclipses," Professor Brown said,
and the predictions for future eclipses
we soon see that in any one place
there will be a total eclipse of the sun
only once in every few hundred years.
The coming eclipse will reduce dark
ness over a narrow area which stretch
es from a point somewhere west of
| Duluth and, after crossing northern
Michigan and Wisconsin, is seen in
Connecticut and then passes out to
sea. The hour of the phenomenon is
between 9 and $50, eastern standard
time"
Can Be Forecast Accurately
There was an eclipse in 1919, visible
in Brazil and central west Africa, and
another last September, seen by the
people of California and northern
Mexico.
The accuracy with which the time
and position can be predicted for an
eclipse is high, Professor Brown went
on to say. The staff of the United
States naval observatory at Washing
ton is always at work calculating the
positions Of the heavenly bodies years
in advance in order that the predic-
tons may be useful. The northern and
southern edges of the shadow band
can be laid down within mile Hence,
when the almanac predicts that the
southern edge will cross the upper
end OF Central Park, in New York
city, it is fairly certain that the shad-
ow will not keep off the grass.
All this knowledge, however, is not
product of the present generation,
1t has been slowly accommodating
through many centuries. Most of it is
due to the proof of the law of CRAWL
tation, which was given by Isaac New
ton toward the end of the seventeenth
century
Cycle Discovered $500 Years Ago.
"But we have to pay our homage to
observers for their industry much fur
Their back than that" the professor
continued More than $500 years ago
the Chaldeans were able to predict
when eclipses would occur, because
they had learned that there is a long
series of them repeated i'll little over
Is wears. 1t is remarkable that they
should have been able to get this
knowledge because any eclipse does
not cover quite the same part OF the
earth's surface as the corresponding
one which occurred IL years before.
They must have kept records over at
least century, perhaps over many
centuries, before the cycle was dlscov-
cred.
THE eclipse Of next January will be
seen by many millions of people. In
the map which has been issued by the
naval observatory it is seen that the
southern boundary of the band over
which the sim will be totally eclpsed
lust covers Duluth, Mimi; Menomi-
nee, Mich; Frankfort, Mich. London,
Ontario: Dunkirk, n. Y; Wilkes
Barre, Pa, and New York city north
of Central Park. Well inside the
northern edge are Manistique Mich;
Toronto, Ontario; Auburn, Hudson,
n. Y; New Bedford, Mass, while a
mile or two outside are Syracuse, n
Y; Springfield, Mass, and Provi-
dence, R. |.
To Be Photographed.
The observations which are to be
made by the observatories within the
region of totally are not yet fully
known. Some OF them will devote the
brief two minutes during which the
eclipse lasts to photogrpahing that
marvellous fringe OF light which is
never seen except at a total eclipse
and which is known as the corona.
Others will try to get accurate posi-
tons OF the moon and also photo
graphs of it, so that its size and shape
shall be better known"
Professor Brown is chairman OF a
committee appointed by the American
Astronomical Society to inform the
public concerning the eclipse.