MORE MONEY NEEDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1048, 12 August 1930, Page 14

MORE MONEY NEEDED

EXPEDITION TO VIEW ! ECLIPSE OF SUN GOOD INSTRUMENTS OBTAINED The eclipse of the sun on October 21 this year, will coincide with the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. If New Zealand is to have the honour ol photographing and recording the total eclipse of the sun on that date another £IOO will have to be raised in order to finance an expedition. Niuafou, 30 miles north of Tonga, has been selected as the ideal rdace from which to witness the. eclipse. Curiously enough the phenomenon this year will be visible from only two small islands in the Pacific —Niuafou and Nurakita. a small uninhabited island which has been ruled out. as the cost of sending the expedition there would be prohibitive. The eclipse will be partly visible in New Zealand, but Niuafou, which is half way between sunrise and sunset, is considered the ideal jilace from which to view it. The expedition will cost about £SOO. The Government which first promised to finance the expedition, later decided that it could give only £ for £ subsidy up to £2OO. The New Zealand Astronomical Society set out to find the remaining £3OO. A public appeal was made and £ 200 is definitely available. SPLENDID INSTRUMENTS Dr. C. E. Adams, Dominion astronomer, and Mr. P. W. Glover, are at present experimenting at the Kelburn observatory with some splendid instruments which have been sent out by the British Empire Eclipse Committee. Both Dr. Adams and Mr. Glover will accompany the New Zealand expedition, which is expected to leave Auckland by the Niagara on September 23. From Suva they will be conveyed to Niuafou by H.M.S. Laburnum, reaching the island at the beginning cf October.

A subscription list has been issued by Dr. Adams. Auckland contributed £39, AVeliington £6O, Christchurch £l3, Dunedin £44, New Plymouth £l2, Hawera £5, and the rest of Now Zealand £33.

An American expedition, led by Commander C. H. J. Keppler, of the United States Navy, will also visit the island to witness the eclipse. The scientists will include Professor S. A. Mitchell, of the L-eander McCormick Observatory, Virginia, one of the world’s authorities on solar eclipses; Mr. Kempton Adams, who will be in charge of the spectogTaphic work; Professor R. W. Marriott, and Dr. Weld Arnold, who, with a 63ft camera, will make observations for the Einstein effect and do the coronal photography. Air. J. J. Johnson, photometric observer, Mr. B. P. Sharpless, coronal photographer, and Lieutenant H. C. Kellers, medical officer, will also accompany the party. MEMBERS NOT DECIDED

The members of the New Zealand party have not yet been definitely decided.

Professor P. W. Burbidge, of the Auckland University, stated recently that a man who wished to see an eclipse should never go with an expedition such as that which would visit Niuafou. Days ahead every member of the party would be drilled in the particular duties he would have to undertake on the actual day of the eclipse. There were many instruments which needed attention and nothing could be left to chance. The routine, which practically amounted to drill, was practised so often that on the actual day everything went like clockwork. It would be impossible otherwise to co-ordinate the efforts of the party and thus obtain the best results.

Among the instruments which have been sent out from England are telescopes fitted with prisms for the analysis of light. This is one of the things which always fascinates the layman—that by means of a small piece of triangular glass the scientist can identify the material out of which are composed stars that are millions of miles away.