ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1922, Page 7

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

VISIBLE IN SEPTEMBER. Sydney, Dec. 14. The first total eclipse of the sun visible in Australia since the earliest settlement in the continent, will take place on September 21, 1922. The South Australian Government astronomer (Mr. Dodwell) points to the important field for investigations, and the beauty and rarity of the phenomenon. The total eclipse gives a possibility for testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which has revolutionised the ideas of scientific men regarding the nature of space and time. One aspect deals with the action of gravity on a beam of light, and shows that rays of light are attracted in common with material bodies towards a heavy gravitating body, and that to a definite degree which may be predicted. This prediction can be tested during the total eclipse of the sun, and then only-

Mr. Dodwell points out that Wallal, on the West Australian coast, has the clearest skies and lowest rainfall, as well as the longest duration of totality, but the possibility of a thin veil of cirrus cloud, which not infrequently occurs, must not be overlooked. This would prevent photographic observations of stars near the sun at the time of the eclipse. Christmas Island has been provisionally selected by the British expedition for observation punposes, but it has only a short duration of totality, and a heavy and variable rainfall. A map prepared by Mr. Dodwell shows the line of totality passing through Gordillo Downs, in South Australia, and the Lord Mayor of Adelaide has urged, in view of the weather conditions in the far north, that an effort should he made to induce the British expedition to visit the South Australian station instead of Christmas Island.