TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

Kumara Times, Issue 2796, 7 September 1885, Page 2

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

The phenomenon which is to be visible next Wednesday morning across the north of this island and the southern portion of the North Island is one which will be of exceeding interest to residents within the zone mentioned, being no less than the total eclipse or obscuration of the Sun for the very short period of about Imin. 40secs., whilst over all other parts of New Zealand the Sun will be observed to be partially, not quite wholly, eclipsed. The Earth, with its attendant satellite the Moon, and all other planets which compose our Solar system, revolving around the Sun in pretty nearly the same plane, it necessarily happens that three occasionally come into line (into conjunction, as it is called) with each other ; but this is most frequent with the Earth, Sun, and Moon, the last-named body being so near to us. From the smallness of the cone of the Moon’s shadow, however, total solar eclipses are extremely unfrequent in any one place compared with the frequency of their actual occurrence. There has been no total eclipse of the Sun visible from any part of New Zealand, that we are aware of, since it has been inhabited by civilised beings. In London, not one total eclipse of the Sun was witnessed during 575 years, viz., from 1140 to 1715. At Paris, there was only one total eclipse in the 18th century, that of 1724, and there will not be another there till towards the close of the 19th century. The rareness, then, with which total eclipses are presented, their sudden (and to some unexpected) appearance, and the singular phenomena which often attend them, strike the popular mind with awe and terror. To the astronomer, the geographer, and the navigator they subserve important uses, in determining terrestrial longitudes and the Sun’s distance from the Earth. The eclipse of Wednesday begins on the Earth generally in longitude 171° 53' east, and latitude 16° 16’ south, that is, between the New Hebrides and Fiji Islands, at Grains, past 6 a.m.; then the Moon’s shadow traverses the Earth’s rotating surface till it reaches New Zealand. The Sun rises here on that day at 20mins. past 6, and half-an-hour afterwards the eclipse commences in New Zealand. Although this eclipse will only be observed in its total phase except over a very narrow belt of the Earth’s surface, the Sun will be seen as partially obscured from all parts of New Zealand, over nearly the whole of the South Pacific Ocean, at Patagonia (in South America), to the east, and Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, on the west. At Kumara—(of course we mean if the weather be favourable) —the Sun, at the middle of the eclipse, will present the appearance or shape of a crescent, like the Moon when it is three or four days old; this will be at about 10 minutes before 9 a.m. Residents and visitors at all places in New Zealand within 40 and 4U degrees of south latitude will then have an opportunity of witnessing the total eclipse ; and if the weather be unfavourable, as it has been lately, they must at any rate experience the curious phenomenon, two and a-half hours after sunrise, of total darkness reigning supreme for from 60 to 100 seconds, according to locality. The eclipse will occupy from its commencement 4| hours, so that it will be between half-past 10 and 11 a.m. before the last contact of the two orbs’ discs takes place. Persons who wish to observe as much of the phenomena as possible from outside their own doors should obtain pieces of yellow or smoked glass, to protect the eye, so that the Sun may be observed pleasantly at any time. The various phases of the Sun may also be watched by looking down into a bucket of clear water on to which the Sun may be directed to shine. Mr H. J. Wylde, who takes a special interest in the subject, has drawn three maps, descriptive of the eclipse; and any person desiring to see them may do so by a visit to the Rooms of the Literary Society. There is, first of all, a small map of the hemisphere of the Earth, showing the path of the Moon’s shadow and penumbra upon its surface during the eclipse. The second map shows the central line of the eclipse or zone across New Zealand where the sun will be totally obscured. And the third drawing shows to the uninitiated how a solar eclipse, both total and partial, is caused, with diagrams of the appearance of the Sun and corona during the total eclipse, and the phases of the Sun where its obscuration is only partial.