Astronomy of To-day

nt Chinese records, and is over four thousand years old. The eclipse in question was a sol

ing the customary rites of beating drums, shooting arrows, and the like, in order to frighten away the mighty dragon which it was believed was about to swallow up the Lord o

similar eclipses follow from the same source; but as they are mere notes of the events, and do not enter into any detail, they are of little interest. Curiously enough th

ese eclipse above-mentioned was merely partial) was deciphered in 1905, on a very ancient Babylo

een three and four hundred years later than this. The first of t

ng a battle in a war which had been waging for some years between the Lydians and Medes. The sudden coming on of darkness led to a termination of the contest, and peace was afterwards made between the combatants. The historian goes on to state

f the ship, which was about to convey Pericles to the Peloponnesus, was very much frightened by it; but Pericles calmed him by holding up a cloak before his e

een blockaded in the harbour of that town by the Carthaginian fleet, but effected the escape of his squadron under cover of night, and sailed for Africa in order to invade the enemy's t

eks have recorded. Additional doubt is cast upon them by the fact that they are usually associated with famous events. The birth and death of Romulus,

se of 763 B.C., to which allusion has already been made; while the famous episode of Hezekiah and the

. 29, and the total phase was visible a little to the north of Palestine. It has sometimes been confounded with the "darkness of the Crucifixion," which event took place near the date in question; but it is suff

e Emperor Claudius about the y

been other prodigies, he put forth a public notice, not only that the obscuration would take pla

ppear hitherto to have troubled themselves very little about astronomical matters, and were

e light shows itself round the sun's circumference, which does not allow the darkness to become deep and complete." No further reference to this phenomenon occurs until near the end of the sixteenth century. It should, however, be here mentioned that Mr. E.W. Maunder has poin

orm of the symbol, the lower the Egyptian. (From Knowledge

on of which is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The track of totality did not, howeve

minutes across what is now Bavaria. Terror at this eclipse is said to have haste

otal at London. From this until 1715 no other eclipse was total at Lo

e taken place in 1030, during the sea-fight in which Olaf of Norway is sup

Sun h

rop of

, the dramatic value of an eclips

enturies. Indeed there have been only two such since-namely, those of 1715 and 1724, to which we shall allude in d

, when men were eating, and they lighted candles to eat by. That was the 1

having taken place on the morning of the Battle of Crecy, 1346.

birds, in clouds, the precursors of a storm, flew screaming over the two armies, and the rain fell in torrents, accompanied by incessant thu

ear. This error is found to have arisen from the mistranslation of an obsolete French wor

, an Hungarian physician, who noticed a bright light around the moon during the time of totality. This is sa

our" (an eclipse of 1433), "Black Saturday" (the eclipse of 1598 which has been alluded to above), and "Mirk Monday" (1652). The track of the last-named also passed over Carrickfergus in Ireland, where it was observed by a certain Dr.

is recorded as having been seen "through a tube." This p

old mystery and confusion to the beholders seem to have lingered even into comparatively enlightened ti

served this eclipse from Berne in Switzerland, and described it in a letter to Flamsteed, the then Astronomer Royal. He says the sun's "getting out of his eclipse was preceded by a blood-red streak of light from its left limb, which continued not longer than six or seven seconds of time; then part of the Sun's disc ap

from a total Eclipse. And I take notice of it to you because it infers that the Moon has an atmosphere; and its short continuance

en! The sun has proved a veritable mine of disco

were noted. Halley further makes allusion to that curious phenomenon, which later on became celebrated under the name of "Baily's beads." It was also on the occasion of this eclipse that the earliest recorded drawings of the corona were made. C

rved it from Haraden Hill near Salisbury Plain. This is the last eclipse of which the total phase was seen in any part of England. The next will not be until June 29, 1927, and will be visible along a line across North Wales and Lancashire. The discs of the sun

at curious phenomenon which we have already described, and which has ever since been known by the name of "Baily's beads." Spurred by his observation, the leading astronomers of the day determined to pay particular attention to a total eclipse, which in the year 18

r then Astronomer Royal, observed it from Turin; Arago, the celebrated director of the Paris Observatory, from Perpignan in the south of France; Francis Baily from Pavia; and Si

Sweden, and across the east of Prussia. This eclipse was also a success, and it was now ascertained that the red prominences belonged to the sun and not to the moon; for the lunar disc, as it moved

ed in its observation.[7] In the photographs taken the stationary appearance of both the corona and prominences with re

mong which is the vapour of hydrogen. The direct result of the observations made on this occasion was the spectroscopic method of examining prominences at any time in full daylight, and without a total eclipse. This method, which has given such an immense impetus to the study of the sun, was the outcome of independent and simultaneous

geria, in order to observe it; but his expectations were disappointed by cloudy weather. The expedition sent out from England had the misfortune to be shipwrecked off the coast of Sicily. But the occasion was redeemed by a memorable observation made by the American astronomer, the late

ographs of the corona obtained by Mr. Davis, assistant to Lord Lindsay (no

the summit of Pike's Peak, Colorado, over 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. The coronal streamers were seen to extend to a much greater distance at this altitude than at points less elevated, and the corona itself remained visible dur

n before the eclipse, and was never seen afterwards. This is the third occasion on which attention has been drawn to a comet merely by a total eclipse. The first is mentioned by Seneca; and the second by Philostorgius, in an account of an eclipse observed at Cons

le point of land available for observing it from was one of the Marquesas Group, Caroline Island, a coral atoll seven and a half miles long by o

sults were obtained. Photographs were taken at both ends of the track, and these showed that the appearance of the corona remained unchanged during the interval of time occupied by the passage of th

to three minutes, and the track stretched from Norway to Japan. Bad weather disappointed the observe

ured with good weather, and is notable for a photograph obtained by Mrs. E.W.

Eclipse of the Su

in the immediate neigh

H. Wesley from

ge

raversed the Spanish peninsula on no less than five occasions during that period. Two of these are among the most notable eclipses of recent years, namely, those of May 28, 1900, and of August 30, 1905. In the former the track of totality stretched from the western seaboard of Mexico, through the Southern States of America, a

photographs taken in Labrador and Egypt on the question as to whether the corona would show any alteration in shape during the time that the shadow was traversing the intervening space-some 6000 miles. The duration of the total phase in this eclipse was nearly four minutes. Bad weather, however, interfered a good deal with the observations. It was not possible, for instance, to do anything at all in Labrado

al Asia and Siberia, and had a totality lasting two and a half minutes at most; but it was not observed as t

rvatory and the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, and a private one from England under Mr. F.K. McClean. As Hull Island afforded few facilities, both parties installed their instruments on Flint Island, although it was very little better. The duration of the total phase was fa

e place on June 17, 1909, the track stretching from Greenland across the North Polar regions into Siberia. The geographical situation i

tality will last so long as four minutes, but the sun will

oughly speaking, to the same quarter of the earth, the track passing across

ctically no service to astronomy. Totality, for instance, will last for only three seconds in Portugal; and, though Paris lies in the

1, 1914. Its track will stretch from Greenland across Norway, Sweden, and Russi

of those in the future to be total in England. The central line will stretch from Wales in a north-easterly direction. Stonyhurst

vol. xx. p. 9

, however, been made during the eclipse of 1851. This was a