Total Eclipse of the Sun.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 24, 26 June 1885, Page 2

Total Eclipse of the Sun.

D; 1 Hector contributes an interesting article on the total eclipse of the sun oil September 9 to the " Science Gossip " column of the Evening Press. Dr Hector says : — To the observer m Wellington the uioon will commence to covar tho sun's dido from W.-to .15. at 0.50 a.m. and at 7.30 the total eclipse will begin. If the morning is flue and clear the scene will* be impressive beyond description. The landscape will darken with a tint quite unlike that of the dusk of the eveniuj», and produce '-at . feeling; of intense sadness. The familiar natural features will disappear as they become stripped of their shadows, so t.'iat the sense of distance will be lost, -colors will become distorted, and the fac* of men will as. smile a livid hue. Fowls will roost, flowers will close, and most animals will give vent to agcftiisiug' cries, and a perception of horror and helplessness will prevail among all living beings. At the time mentioned for the commencement of totality, the gloomy darkness will reach a climax, and suddenly round the black spot m the sky that marks the con. joined bodies of the sun and moon there will spring into view a grand- halo of soft silvery light, extending, perhaps, to twice the width of the moon m all directions — a woven interlacing of filaments of silverly light that, from previous accounts, seem never to retain the same form for long, or even to present the same appearance to different observers at the same time." The article concludes as follows : — " A most unusual and remark { able feature m this ecUpse will be the presence of the planet Jupiter and its satellites m close apparent proximity to the sun,, within three-quarters of a degree, m fact. This will afford a known standard' forejudging: of the relative brightness of the different emanations from the sun. It will thus be of great assistance m photographing .-the corona. The last total: eclipse visible m New Zealand was at 5 p.m. on April . the sth, 1856, and another will not occur till 2 p.m. on December the 12th, 1890." This article is understood to contain the very latest scientific information regarding the eclipse.