September 7, 1905J 



NATURE 



459 



At Assuan, where Prof. Turner set up his corona- 

 graph and polariscopic apparatus, the atmospheric 

 conditions were perfect, except for a slight haze, and 

 the Times correspondent reports tliat eight photo- 

 graphs in polarised light were obtained and successful 

 corona pictures were taken. Mr. Reynolds with his 

 120-feet reflector evidently experienced the great 

 drawback common to all users of long-focus cameras, 

 viz. bad atmospheric tremors, for the local fire brigade 

 had to be requisitioned to flood the site in order to 

 check the radiation from the heated ground. 



Dr. J. Larmor sends us the following observ- 

 ations made by Mr. S. L. Walkden on the Orient 

 steamer Ortona, situated on the central line of the 

 eclipse in the Mediterranean near the Spanish coast. 

 The observations contain a good naked-eye record of the 

 eclipse, and agree with Dr. Larmor's impressions : — 

 " Rainbow colours visible on small cloud about 5° 

 from sun about h minute to i minute before totality. 

 Pulsation of light from strip of sun was observed by 

 Mr. Campbell and myself as if the moon advanced 

 by stages. (Probably another aspect of shadow-bands 

 phenomenon.) No approach of shadow observed by 

 myself, though keenly looked for; but found no one 

 else who observed it except Mr. Campbell, who caught 

 it in the sky not far from sun's limb at time of 

 approach of totality. Totality. — Venus first noticed 

 about one minute before totality, and Regulus as soon 

 as totality complete. Mercury searched for with Zeiss 

 field-glass and naked eye, but not caught after about 

 10 to 15 seconds' search. Corona. — Verv fine and very 

 detailed, so that general description difficult. General 

 impressions. — (r) Some streamers seemed to cross, and 

 were certainly not all radial. (2) Obvious extension 

 seemed about two sun diameters. (3) Streamers dis- 

 tributed all round sun, but chieflv at left-top (45° 

 from top) limb. Long thin streamer at left-left- 

 bottom limb (673° to left of bottom). Prominences. — 

 Distributed more or less all round, but chief one 

 observed at left-top corner. Height about 5 of 

 sun's radius; but this should be corrected for irradi- 

 ation, which made the prominence appear to trespass 

 into the moon's surface, exaggerating its size and 

 producing general local glare. Colour of prominence 

 was much less marked than expected, being merely 

 of a violet or faintly rosy-pink hue. Shadow bands 

 observed on deck at end of totality (looking down 

 from boat deck). They ' rippled ' along a little 

 faster than could be easily followed by eye. They 

 were parallel to the strip of the sun after totality, and 

 travelled in direction of shadow. Dark strips about 

 6 to 8 inches wide, distance apart about 18 inches. 

 During totality depth of darkness seemed practically 

 independent of depth of our immersion in shadow. 

 Clouds formed a good deal after J of sun's diameter 

 had gone. Lightness of eclipse very marked, and in 

 itself disappointing. Time by watch always plainly 

 visible. Sky illumination greatest round horizon, 

 and a yellow glow (like sunset) in points opposite to 

 sun (about N. point). Coast lights were visible a 

 few miles away, and one hill to N. appeared as if 

 perforated, with the sky showing through. This 

 was observed by one other passenger. Venus still 

 visible nearly 5 minutes after end of totality. Whole 

 black disc of moon was visible shortlv before totality, 

 say 5 to 10 seconds before." 



.According to a correspondent writing to the Times, 

 some interesting observations of a simple character 

 were made by the amateur astronomers on board the 

 P. and O. mail steamer .Arcadia, which for the time 

 of the eclipse waited off the coast of Spain not far 

 from Castellon. Members of the British .Astronomical 

 -Association were on board, and organised themselves 

 to watch various features of the phenomena. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Johnson report that thev saw the whole 

 NO. I 87 I, VOL. 72] 



contour of the moon projected on the corona immedi- 

 ately after the first contact. Thermometric observ- 

 ations showed a fall from 90° to 72°. 6 in the sun, 

 and from 82'-'.4 to 72°.5 in the shade, temperature. 

 -Mr. Bacon, first officer of the .ircadia, made 

 successful observations of the approach and of the 

 recession of the moon's shadow from a point of 

 vantage at the mast-head. 



-As regards the observations made by foreign astro- 

 nomers, those located at Castellon, Burgos, Guelma, 

 Sfax, and Assuan shared, of course, in the conditions 

 enumerated above. M. Tripled, of the .Algiers 

 Observatory, was apparently very successful at 

 Guelma, and obtained numerous photographs of the 

 chromospheric spectrum and the corona. .A fall of 

 temperature of 5° C. (from 33° to 28°) was recorded, 

 and Mercury, Venus, and Regulus were observed. 



.At Tripoli, Prof. Todd, of Amherst College Observ- 

 atory, M. Liberd, of Paris, and Prof. Millosevich, of 

 Rome, were favoured with a clear sky. Prof. Todd 

 secured some 250 photographs of the corona with his 

 automatic coronagraph. \'ery good observations of 

 the shadow-bands are said to have been made at this 

 station. 



.A disappointing feature of the eclipse w-as the 

 failure to secure observations at both ends of the 

 shadow's path. .As mentioned before in these 

 columns, arrangements had been made by the Lick 

 Observatory to photograph the corona in Labrador 

 and in Egypt with exactly similar coronagraphs. 

 Mrs. Maunder, accompanying the Canadian party at 

 Hamilton Inlet (Labrador), was also to use a corona- 

 graph identical in scale with that used by Prof. 

 Turner at .Assuan. -A Reuter telegram from St. 

 John's, Newfoundland, announces, however, that the 

 Lick observers experienced a total failure owing to 

 clouds ; a second message from a telegraph station 

 on Hamilton Inlet stated that line weather prevailed 

 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day of the eclipse, and 

 that the phenomena were perfectly visible, and it was 

 hoped that the Canadian party had been successful in 

 making good observations. A later telegram, dated 

 September 3, states, however, that the expedition was 

 entirely unsuccessful, owing to the cloudy weather, 

 and no photographs were secured. 



.A communication from Mr. J. V. Buchanan, 

 F.R.S., to the Times of September 5, contains some 

 interesting notes of visual observations made during 

 the period of totality at Torreblanca, a small village 

 on the east coast of Spain. Having been present at 

 the 1882 eclipse, when he assisted Sir Norman 

 Lockyer at Sohag, on the Nile, and not having seen 

 the whole of the phenomena, Mr. Buchanan only 

 took with him an ordinary camera and a field-glass, 

 so that he might devote all his attention to visual 

 observations. His choice of Torreblanca, where, with 

 the exception of the local railway employees, he seems 

 to have Iseen the sole observer, was justified, inasmuch 

 as the eclipse took place in a blue sky. As the last 

 vestige of sun disappeared behind the eastern limb 

 of the moon a magnificent bunch of prominences, of 

 a light violet hue, appeared at the same part of the 

 limb; but these subsequently disappeared, and a 

 careful search at mid-totality failed to reveal any 

 prominences at all. .A similar group, however, burst 

 into view on the opposite limb just before the end of 

 totality, thus indicating that the apparent diameter 

 of the moon was sufficient to cover the whole of the 

 prominence layer of the sun's limb at mid-totality. 



The corona was clearly visible near to the western 

 part of the moon's limb eight seconds before the 

 advent of totality, and throughout totality it was 

 very clearly defined. On an average it extended to 

 rather more than one lunar diameter from the limb, 

 but a streamer on the lower western limb was judged 



