CORRESPONDENGE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3003, 10 November 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENGE.

[To THE EdITOB.]

Sie,—The followin'!; particulars in reference to the eclipse of the sun tomorrow morning may be of interest to your readers :—ln the Pacific, due North of New Zealand, in about 23 deg. south latitude, tte eclipse will be annular, that is, the moon will nearly cover the sun, with the exception of a ring of light allround the edge. This is owing to the fact that at this date the diameter of the moon is a little less than the diameter of the sun ; the sun being 32 minutes 22 seconds of an arc in diameter, and the moon 30 minutes 10 seconds. At a distance of some 30 miles to the north and south of the line of annular eclipse the moon will not appear to be in the centre of the sun, as the'shadow cast by the moon on the earth does not cover more than a circumference of some 60 miles. Outside this limit therefore the eclipse will appear partial, gradually decreasing until no eclipse is visible, over 44 degrees of latitude, from the line of annular eclipse. As Timaru is about 21 degrees south of this line, it follows that we shall see a little more than one half the sun obscured. The eclipse will begin at about 9.40 a.m. It will be interesting to note whether the whole of the dark moon can be seen. This is generally, I believe, not the case, unless the sun is almost all obscured, and its light in our atmosphere lessened — H.W.H. November 10th, 1882.