Total Eclipse of the Sun.

Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 23, 23 March 1889, Page 3

Total Eclipse of the Sun.

American astronomers have bud u Gii" opportunity (writes tho London Daily mira of Jnnnnry 3) of witnessing ouo of tho most impressive of all I nature's moststriktng phenomena. A total oelinse of tlio sun, sueti as was j visible on \ii\v Year's day in California •■ mid other parts of the. United States, is an astronomical event of first-rate importance, not only for the uplondour of tini sight itself and the few times ; it may be visible from a given spot ; but also for the extremely interesting and important questions at issue. i Monday's eclipse, as seen through the ! brilliant atmosphere of tlio United ! states, --penis to have exhibited to perj feetion nil the familiar phenomena of ! these Striking natural events, At first ! the black shadow is soon silently stealI ing over the* surface of the son until his Ijght grows dun, and his form is like that of u narrow cresceut like that I of a brilliant new moon. A few I moments more and a great shade falls j ovor tho landscape. Birds go to roost j among tho trees, and all naturo is I struck as With a spell. Astho shadow j passes on tho stars flash out in full ! brightness, shining forth from a durk transparent sky, while toe place of the sun is occupied by a black globo round the margin of which flame out tho ruddy spots onco known as Baily's beads. But, most wonderful of all, those ruby -colored spots of light nro projected upon a shining bnckgr.und of silvery whiteness, the beautiful effulgence of the solar corona. It is this corona, which has taxed the minds and tho resources of astronomers. Its nature is still a mystery. On Monday Baily's beads were " entirely unlike those seen ut Denver in 1878." At Chicago tiie naked eye view of tho corona was very fmo. In Nevada the corona appeared " with long rays of light parallel to the sun's equator." The red flames or prominences can now, thanks to Lockyor, Janssen, and Huggiugs, bo studied leisure whenever the sun is visible, but the corona is resorved for the few minutes durieg wbich our atmosphere is shaded from tho solar glare. Nor is this all ; there are theoretical planets to be looked for nearer to the sua than Moroury, and the search fur such a planet on Monday »•• n failure.. Oa the other hand an observer in Nevada discovered a come* near the euu. When last *n IjdOjgh jftottld have token place in Bnrqfcelsto great occasion was spoilt by otiittknlfea, but tbe American* navwrjeAißOrefortttaato; ekad and haaasJr* Mattered at some stadons, but to have fj-l nTt Oi

■ •} i .vcm- Star's ln»y tttoulJ ikci'vivftj j%> iuutid to, hnvo given a cluu to yet more uf Nature's aeuretfl.