Evening star., 1937-06-09
ECLIPSE PHOTOS
BELIEVED. PERFECT
Negatives Are Rushed to
Honolulu From Base at
Canton Island.

Painstaking efforts of long months
crowned with success, the joint ex-
pedition from the United States Navy
and National Geographic Society.
which yesterday observed the epochal
solar eclipse from lonely Canton
Island, today prepared to break camp
in the South Pacific and head home
ward.
Negatives Of hundreds OF priceless
photographs, taken by 16 men as the
moon blotted out the sun, and stars
appeared in the morning sky, are
being rushed in air cooled compart-
ments to Honolulu, from where the
party plans to sail June 10.
The period Of totality-three minutes
and thirty-three second plus-Was the
longest in II centuries, and by rare
dispensation from nature it was visible
under perfect weather conditions.
Five minutes after the rim OF the
sun once more began to show in the
darkness, the picture was obscured by
clouds. 1t was just by that fraction
that the expedition averted failure.
I'VE had a glorious day" DR.. S. A.
Mitchell, University Of Virginia OBJ
servatory director and leader of the
expedition last night told his COL
leagues here in broadcast.
Much Study Ahead.
The scientists study will not end,
however, until after months of study
of the photographs.
Mitchell said his specriscopic pho
tographs went through without a
hitch,' preserving pictorial record
of the suns corona-a dazzling pearly
light darting like blue streamers for
millions of miles around the blotted-
out sun.
Capt. F. ]. Hellweg, superintendent
Of the Naval Observatory, described
the expedition as probably the most
successful ever completed"
DR.. Paul A. McNally, director OF
the Georgetown University Observa-
tory. reported that his photographs
showed exceptional detail He ad-
vised Washington scientists to "be
glad in your hearts and rejoice
A tense group of scientists gathered
at the Geographic Society head
quarters here yesterday afternoon to
hear the broadcast of the eclipse.
Just at 2 o'clock, 6 minutes before
the period of totality started, the
broadcast, picked up from short wave
on the Pacific coast, began to boom
through the loud speaker
The weather is absolutely per-
feet" George Hicks, N B. c. COM
mentator, told the waiting world, and
the little gathering here instinctively
broke into applause.
Description Is Detailed.
Then for IS minutes the descrip-
ton of the phenomenon rolled in
from the outpost 5000 miles away
Included in the party here were
DR.. John Oliver La Gorce, vice presi-
dent of the National Geographic So
ciety, DR.. George W. Hutchinson,
secretary; Capt. A. S. Hickey. acting
superintendent of the Naval Observa-
tory in the absence of Capt. Hellweg;
DR.. James Robertson of the OBJ
| SCI NdLOly Sldu anu LII. LyHldI y
Briggs, director of the Bureau of
Standards.
A New Zealand party camped near
the Americans on Canton Isle In
the open sea, 2400 miles eastward.
astronomers Of Franklin Institute of
Philadelphia and Princeton Univer-
sity viewed the eclipse from a freight
er near the point Of maximum dura-
ton.
Maj. Albert w. Stevens, American
Army aviator, observed the celestial
display for the American Museum of
Natural History as he scared $4,000
feet above Peru's mountains.
Also clustered in the shadows path
on the Peruvian coast were members
of the Hayden Planetarium- Grace e
Expedition from New York and Jap
anese and Peruvian scholars
Scientists and amateurs in SOUTH
ernmoSt parts of the United States
saw partial eclipse.