The Approaching Total Eclipse of the Sun

Abstract

THE approaching total solar eclipse, on the 28th of the present month, promises to contribute some valuable additions to our scientific knowledge of the centre of our system, inasmuch that the track of the moon's shadow on the earth's surface passes, to an unusual extent, through regions which are easily accessible. Entering the North American continent near New Orleans, in Louisiana, the central line of eclipse traverses the States of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and carolina, passing on to the Atlantic from the shore of Virginia, near Norfolk. The track is thus crossed by many of the numerous railway systems of the Southern States, exceptional facilities being thereby offered to observers with large instruments. Information supplied by the U.S. Weather Bureau indicates that stations in Alabama and Georgia are most likely to be favoured with an unclouded sky; hence the expeditions from the chief American observatories will go there. congress has voted 5000 dollars to the Naval Observatory, and 4000 dollars to the Smithsonian Institution, for the necessary equipment. The Naval Observatory staff will organise two expeditions, one going to North carolina, the other to Georgia, so that the stations will be some 200 miles apart, and will furnish valuable evidence as to the changes to which the solar surroundings are subject.