New Britain herald., 1925-01-24
LIKE CANNON BALL
 RUSHING INTO SUN
Thrilling Spectacle Watched by Thousands on Hills and Roofs
COLD BECOMES INTENSE
Mercury Drops Between Two to Eight Degrces--Many Complain of Feeling Ill--All Eyes Fastened on the Heavens.

or teeling Ill--Ali Eyes Fastened
 on the Heavens.
 The eclipse is over. The phe- nomenon of the heavens was wit messed by approximately 10000 New Britain people this morning and by from ten to twenty millions of peo- pie in the United States.
 A cold, dark disk, floating in in- mite space covered the face. of the sun for q period of two full minutes.
 This is What Happened
 Swinging through the universe, three planets passed on the same plane on their respective journeys. The earth and the sun and the moon, Two planets, the sun and the moon, seemed to appear at one spot in the sky at the same time. The moon being closer to the earth pass cd in front of the sun and for Il small portion of the earth's surface all was darkness. With less than three hours of daylight, tho earth again became shroudcd in gray mantle.
 It was a thrilling sight as the ebony lunar shadow swinging through the void obliterated all view of the center of the great solar system. A strip of darkness 100 miles wide, covered earth from Red Lake, Minn., to Shetland Islands, in the Atlantic, from which point the shadow of the great black disk, it's edges broken by "fringes" said to be volcanic craters, rushed into open space and disappeared.
 But all was not complete darkness even though the sun itself were plotted from view, the corona, Visf- ble but once in several lifetimes, seen from the same portion of the earth but once in hundreds of years were observable. Brilliant rays, shooting out in all directions for millions of miles, made an elaborate, spectacu- lar display.
 This corona was the big sight for scientists and astronomers. Flashing , from the background of the moons shadow it brought gasps of admira- 1 ton from those who saw 1t. "SunSct" at 3 a. III. Probably the most attractive part of the eclipse. next to the suns co. roma, was the "Sunsot" effect for { few minutes Just before the last ! crescent of the sun disappeared be. hind the moon. The sky had been l bright and clear, so clear that dis 1 tant objects were visible. Slowly but gradually the horizon became hay 3 mist seemed 10 rise, landmarks, tc use moving picture term, slowly faded out.''s
 Then light etrcaks of colors began to gather, reds, greens, orange, blue and gold growing brighter each sec ond
 As the last shred of crescent dis appeared the pink faded out Of the sky, the blue border above the hori- 2on disappeared as the colorcI rib i kons played over the long stretches of snow in open spaces turned into grayish black, going from the effect of q late afternoon twilight scene to that Of a moonlight night.
 Got q "K!c!1" Out of It.
 A strange thrill seemed to go over the p0pulace. Everything grew quiet, almost as silent as death itself. Traf- 1c ceased. Street cars and jitneys and automobiles came 10 stop Lights were out Not factory wheel turned nor was there a stroke of business anywhere.
 People looked through all sorts ] of eye protectors. spcctroscOpes 7 rclipec-o-scopes, coiored and smoked glasses, and marvcled at the strange scene. No one doubted the supersti- i tiOus tcrrors Of the ancient and it. iteratcs who in former eclipses fear cd the end of the world
 Mercury Goes Down.
 People nocked to the hillsidcs They stood and looked and sAiyercd The Zero temperature did not seum to make any difference as the city was turned into a community of sky gazars. During the period Of the to- tai eclipse, or at least during the lat- ter of the two minutes or totanty there Was noticed a detjHioo drop o! from two 10 eight degrees in tenn. pcraturc,
 The darkness of a moonless night expected by some, diI not material. iZe, as the light from tho coru0a gave the effect of moonlight < ftH of the brighter sta~5 came out, anG Mercury, Venus, JunlNrr and on' other star were seen in thv boUll. west.
 Walnut Hill park was black will people who stood on tt2 ji.Dtop lc observe the eclipse. At the chlL,rnn3 Home anl other hilltopS crowds O people gathered.
 4 large telescope Of thu norjtb., type used for as,rnnomy I,5tL7es ownod hy l.. F. NcJmaan, Wa. transported to the Chjllr"n's H0m, on EaHkIGc Heights and the chjr drcn given q chance 10 look th~oaEl 1 it, IL is rgur-d there werc fatr 5ol people there.
 Girls Arc SupcrstulOu>
 At the New Britain gvne.a. hos pitai a group ot directors ana taol wA,s joined the nmscs in 1aoh7i at tho display th-oIGh paris oE H'u,
 lContlnued on Page l6)
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