120 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Starry Heavens in August. 



BY PROF. ERIC DOOLITTLE OF THE UNI- 

 VERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



By Ear the most important astro- 

 nomical event of the present month is 

 the eclipse of August 21, which is a 

 remarkable total eclipse of the sun. 

 The shadow of the moon at this time 

 will first fall i the turning earth at 

 a point a little north of the Arctic 

 shores of British North America, but 



easily accessible that an immense 

 number of observations will be made 

 during the continuance of this eclipse, 

 ddiis fact alone would make it a most 

 important one. but it also happens, be- 

 cause the moon is so unusually near 

 the earth at this time and the sun so 

 far away, that the shadow cast is an 

 unusually large one. In other words, 

 the disc of the moon will appear con- 

 rably larger than the disc of the 



NORTH 



.1 ! . A!.. August 1. (If fai ith, hold the map upright. If 



, t, hold E; 1 below. If I orth, hold the map inverted.) 



instead of being confined t 

 sib!'. ilar regi< > ten the 



case, it will sweep acr the 



cenl r< ipe, and th 



and ave the earth at the 



tier of India, 

 "i he j shadow is thus 



sun; consequently the latter body will 

 be seen to be completely hidden for 

 it two minutes from nearly all 

 parts of the shadow path, and from 

 certain points its light will be com- 

 pletely blotted out for two minutes 

 and a quarter. 



