THE MAY ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1321, 7 March 1883, Page 2

THE MAY ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

.We '.learn.-from .the Athenaeum, of December 2nd, that Mr Janssen read before the'- French" Academy, on the 13th November,/ his report >:to: the. Bureau de Longitudes on;.the .total eclipse of the Sun on the 9th of May next. Ho refers to the grand discovery made on the occasion of'the "eclipse of 1868, of the nature of the rose-colored protuberances or prominences on the Sun's'limb, which'Jiad previously been, sucli tinenigma.; also to-the'; knowledge .which' lias been acquired in move • recent total'eclipses respecting the socalled corona, " But he remark's that much yei remains to jjelearntj particularly with regard to. the., immense appendages to the corona which have been noticed on several occasions. Nor should,;he adds, the opportunities be' left out of account that may be offered of discovering tlie small' planets which probably circulate in/the immediate neighborhood of the Siinj arid could only be seen either when passing over his. disc or during a total Bolar-'eclipse. No occasion of the kind,.then, ought to be lost; but the eclipse of May next is especially favorable iri respect of the long dmition of the totality, .amount-, irig where it is a maximum to,ofily one. second short of six'minutes, The unfortunate part is, as wo have already mentioned, that the line of centrality is confined to the South Pacific Ocean, 'and only crosses land on-a ;few very small islands. Caroline Island has been already mentioned, ...but. M. Janssen points dut tliafcthfere is another' still nearer tlie central line,"where the totality will last five minutes 33 seconds. This is called Flint-Island,' and its position is longitude, 510.40 (from Greenwich),; south; }atH tude 11.30. At Caroline -Island the duaration of totality will be five minutes 20 seconds, or only 13 seconds less than at Mint,-Island, and;,. Mi Janssen proposes'that" Jmclr expe : dition shall be'equipped, provided with means of taking observations of,the. eclipse on both these islands, -/Let to hope that English astronomy will also be represented, •