ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

Evening Star, Issue 23697, 3 October 1940, Page 8

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

PERFECT CONDITIONS Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright CAPE TOWN, October 1. Thousands of people, including many scientists stationed in various points of tlio barren plateau, gathered in the totality belt in the Calvinia district for an eclipse of the sun. The, conditions ■acre perfect for observation of the totality, which lasted four minutes, in which" the light of the sun was equivalent to a full moon. A warning was previously given to thousands of natives.

HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL OBSERVATION GREAT DISCOVERIES HOPED FOR CAPE TOWN, October 2. (Received October 3, at 8 a.m.) The observation will probably prove one of the most successful known. No cloud marred the view of the great phenomenon. Scientists stated that they hoped great discoveries would result from the observation, but it would be many months before the calculations were worked out. The corona shone out in vivid relief for nearly four minutes. Although warned, the natives were most perturbed as the eclipse blacked out the daylight and sudden darkness descended. The stars appeared and an unearthly silence , enshrouded the eclipse belt, which is one of the loneliest of South Africa’s semi-desert areas. The work was carried out without a hitch at the astronomers’ camp. One spectrograph was used to record the spectrum at the moment of total eclipse. It was in a 10-foot pit to protect the apparatus from varying temperatures.