Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27

Western United States as indicated 0n
this map. Z,
With an airplane, a very slight advantage m
time can be obtained for two reasons. The
higher you are above the earth's surface the
larger is the shadow. Also the airplane can
dy along with the shadow, thus prolonging the
time bit Astronomers will fly for this eclipse,
IN airplanes furnished by the Army Air Service.
and may succeed where the ground forces fail.
Photographs of the eclipsed sun will be made
from the airplane, but surprisingly enough,
some of the cameras will be turned away from
the sun and pointed at the ground. With these
an effort will be made to photograph the moons
shadow as it sweeps across the earth Such
photographs will make possible a very accurate
determination of the position of the moon ut
that time and help in the solution Of one OF
the most difficult of astronomical problems
the exact way in which the moon moves.
This will not be the first time that aerial
observations Of an eclipse have been made. At
the historic New England eclipse in January,
1925, naval astronomers made use Of the airship
Los Angeles for an observation, while still other
observations were made from airplanes. Last
year the Naval Observatory sent an expedition
to the Philippines to observe an eclipse Most
Of the photographs were made from the ground,
in noilo, but these were supplemented by aerial
photographs
Three Navy planes took part in the expert
ment, each manned with q crew Of three: Pilot,
navigator and photographer A specially rugged
camera was used, IL feet long, with which q
total of 80 photographs were made at attitudes
of $500 to 10000 feet. A series of moving Pic
ture photographs were also made, at intervals
Of five seconds from the beginning of the eclipse
to the end.
The men In the cockpit Of the planes 10
turned with an awesome story Of the glory Of
the heavens.
For hour the nose of the heavy plane
pointed upward and we mounted nearer the
sum-" of the aviators said I'VE cruised
along, always turning back to face the sun as he
glared down at us from his western position
at an angle Of As degrees. An odd light slowly
enshrouded the heavens and as the sun beamed
less intensely the atmosphere grew eerie and
unnatural. The pilot shouted something and
knew that the eclipse was about to begin.
IAN extraordinary haze of violet gently how
cred over the entire world and as an irreg-
ularly shaped dark object grew more and more
apparent, the lavender coloring and heavy at
mosphere of every imaginable shade of trans
parent orchid to deep puppies cloaked the Skies
At the spot where the sun had recently shown
so brilliantly was burning hot yellow corona
bordering the moon, which was now in the
midst of the eclipse
This intense golden halo rimmea the jet
black sphere with dazzling light. 1t was Q
sight never to be forgotten The motor had
idled and we coaSted toward this strange and
glamOrous extravaganza for all the world like
O voyage to some imaginative land.
Far below, the earth had put on a heavy
purple Of coloring and scattered here and
there along the plains and in the hills were
tiny jets Of fire. The rivers and weaving
streams pierced the gloom and from their lum-
inous glow their courses were easily traced.
Such panorama man had never seen be-
fore. 1t cannot be successfully described. The
sun and moon seemed quite close. The wh0Aw
phenomena somehow looked like o queerly do
signed lantern hanging against . silken curta1A.
! know held my breath" "a