06 ECLIPSES. [Lesson xiv. 



passes through the centre of the Earth, or the New 

 Moon happens exactly in the node, and then it is 

 evident that the section of the shadow is circular j 

 but in every other case the conical shadow is cut 

 obliquely by the surface of the Earth, and the sec- 

 tion will be an oval, and very nearly a true ellipsis. 

 2. Nor does the eclipse appear the same in all 

 parts of the Earth, where it is seen ; but when in 

 one place it is total, in another it is only partial. 

 Farther, when the Moon appears much less than 

 the Sun, as is chiefly the case when she is in 

 Apoge, and he in Perige *; the vertex of the lunar 

 shadow is then too short to reach the Earth, and 

 though she be in a central conjunction with the 

 Sun, is yet not large enough to cover his whole 

 disc, but lets his ring appear as a lucid ring or 

 bracelet, and so causes an annular eclipse. 3. A 

 solar eclipse does not happen at the same time in 

 all places where it is seen j but appears more early 

 to the western parts, and later to the eastern j as the 

 motion of the Moon, and consequently of her 

 shadow, is from west to east. 4. In most solar 

 eclipses the Moon's disc is covered with a faint 

 light, which is attributed to the reflection of the 

 light from the illuminated part of the Earth. 

 Lastly, in total eclipses of the Sun, the Moon's 

 limb is seen surrounded by a pale circle of light j 

 which some astronomers consider as an indication 

 of an atmosphere of the Sun, because it has been 



* Apoge is that place in which the Sun or a planet primary or 

 secondary, is at its greatest distance from the Karlh : Perige. is 

 when either of these is at Us neatest possible distance from us. 



observed 



