Rambaut — Oil the Lunar Eclipse of January 28, 1888. 49 



No diminution of light was noticed till 9 h 10 m (throughout I 

 give Greenwich mean time). Up to that hour I had been watching 

 the moon with the naked eye, but, on looking through the teles- 

 cope, I then observed that the penumbra extended over a consi- 

 derable portion of the disc. This was only 2(H mins. before the 

 time calculated for the contact with the shadow. On the occasion, 

 of what may be called the same eclipse occurring eighteen years 

 previously, on January 17th, 1870, which was observed at Windsor, 

 New South Wales, the first defalcation of light was noticed 20 m 

 before the first contact with the shadow. This is, probably, a 

 mere coincidence. At 9 h 23 ra the whole surface appeared of a 

 sandy-brown colour, except the western limb, which was of a 

 silvery hue. At 9 h 31 m the first trace of the shadow appeared, 

 but the contact with the geometrical cone must have occurred a 

 little before the shadow became visible. 



At 9 h 35 m the obscured portion began to show a copper tinge. 

 This was more marked at the darkened limb than at the edge of 

 the shadow, which was almost black. About this time Aristarchus, 

 which was involved in the shadow, was distinctly brighter, than the 

 surrounding region, and remained so throughout the whole eclipse, 

 whenever my attention was directed to it. 



Fig. 3. 



At 9 h 55 m the obscured portion was first noticed with the naked 

 eye. At this time the obscured limb was much brighter than the 

 parts nearer to the edge of the shadow, the shaded portion appear- 

 ing almost as if it were bounded by a bright circular line, while 

 the illuminated part appeared to belong to a larger circle in con- 

 sequence of irradiation. 



