The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-09-01

mers, was led by Miss Margaret Harwood of the Maria Mitchell Oo- servatory of Harvard University.
 Her principal assistant was Miss Marjorie Williams of Smith Col lege. .
 Both were confident that the telescope which they nao mounted on 55-foot high Aldrich tower had recorded perfect pnoto- graphs of the corona, seen at lts awe inspiring best in that section. They were to take the plates to Harvard observatory to-day TOT development.
 astronomical theories the Univer- sitv of Pozen set up its equipment at Amesbury, Mass, directly on the line of partial and complete eclipse and was rewarded at the time of of totality by finding the sun and moon converged in the center of a blue patch in the sky.
 They were sanguine that their chronocinematographic r or d g., giving the exact times of the diff ferent eclipse phases, with the ex-. ception of the appearance or Baily's beads, would afford more definite knowledge of the exact rel ative position of the sun and moon.
 Wesleyan University's expedi- ton, stationed at Center Conway, ~. H., reported through its direc- tor, Frederick Slocum, that 1t had carried out its complete program, exposing 40 plates, but that the partly obscured sky probably would make their results unsatisfactory.
 Slocum revealed, incidentally, that according to his calculations the moon kept it's rendezvous with the sun a few seconds later than had been predicted and that the duration of totality was about one second less than predicted. In other words, the moon came late and left early.
 Results achieved by the Swarth- more College expedition were des- cribed as mil" by Dr John A. Mill Ter, one-time mathematics teacher of President Hoover. He and II brother scientists who set a bat tery of instruments on a plateau at Derby, Vt, the eclipse's point of entry into the United States, were frustrated by a dense cloud bank which hung over the region.
 However disappointing or fruit ful the eclipse might have been from @ scientific standpoint the five million who watched 1t in New England were well-satisf1ed with 1t as a spectacle.
 They saw the scimitar-thin edge of the sun. just before totality, diminish to nothingness and a tenebrous shroud sweep out of the northwest, racing at the lightning like speed of 33 miles per second, to bathe in unnatural twilight a 10 DO mile wide sirtp of New Eng land.
 Even the presence of clouds in some sections heightened the ef- feet, both by creating a dramatic suspense as the two celestial actors moved behind drifting cumuli and by adding to the greenish pallor or the corona 8 brilliantly sulphurous glow which stretched all across the northern and eastern horizon. This feature of the 1892 eclipse had never been witnessed in any pre- vious eclipse.
 In some sections, Baily's Beads, often likened to a pearl necklace in the heavens, were visible to the naked eye. In others, only those fortunate enough to own telescopes could detect them.
 Totality neared its end. The su- preme show of the universe was alm ost over. As though to take, final bow, the cage of the sun slid from behind the shielding moon, and in a flash the stars were gone, it was day again, although weak and yellow day. The watching crowds oh-ed and ah-ed and shift cd feet and whispered some com to show they were sen- sible folks, well aware in their hearts that the worlds end had n't been imminent-but had only seemed so.