THE NOVAYA-ZEMLYA OBSERYATIONS. 
203 
off by the boundary of the field. Near the limb the corona is very intense, but 
sufficiently transparent to allow the low details to be easily made out. Sky slightly 
fogged. 
Plate 3. Exposure, 40 seconds. Very fine negative. Sky decidedly more fogged 
than in Plate 2, but corona very well defined, extending on the E. to about 21' 
from the limb, and on the W. to 16'. The ray on the N.W. is cut off’ by the boundary 
of the field. Although the corona is very dense near the limb, the low details can be 
made out verv well with suitable illumination. 
4 / 
Plate 4. Exposure, 2 seconds. Clear negative ; shows prominences very well, 
but only a narrow, faint fringe of corona, more intense on the S.W. and almost 
invisible at the N. pole. Only a little of the lowest detail is shown. 
The negatives appear well-focussed and the grain of the plates is fine, so that I 
have been able to make out much more of the lower details than in most recent 
eclipse photographs. 
The corona of 1896 is remarkably symmetrical about the sun’s axis ; still more so 
than that of 1886, which it closely resembles. The northern polar rift is extremely 
well-marked ; it extends for about 40° along the limb, and is filled with fine rays, 
attaining a height of about 11'; straight and nearly radial in the centre, and 
becoming more curved and inclined from the axis towards either side of the rift. As 
in 1886, the southern rift extends for a greater distance along the limb, but is much 
less distinct than the north polar rift, the rays filling it being broader and more 
diffused, and its boundaries less clearly defined. 
The conspicuous ray (or group of rays) in the N.W. quadrant, mentioned in the 
description of the plates, bounds the N. polar lift to the W. with a decided curve of 
double curvature, similar to that shown in 1885. It shows indications of synclinal 
structure, but not so clearly as in 1886. On the small scale negative, taken by 
Dr. Hansky, of the Pussian Expedition, this ray is shown tapering to a point and 
then slightly widening again, attaining a height of more than two diameters. At 
the base of this ray is a prominence, as in the corresponding ray of 1886. Imme¬ 
diately to the S. of this great ray is a well-marked opening in the corona, filled with 
three narrow, nearly radial rays. A sharp, narrow rift separates these from the 
somewhat inconspicuous equatorial group, within which two rays seem abruptly bent 
aside in an equatorial direction, and at the base are indications of small rays com¬ 
pletely bending over. South of the equatorial group are two conical masses, showing 
distinct traces of synclinal structure. The southern of these masses is the larger, and 
forms the western boundary of the great southern rift. With the exception of the 
great N.W. ray, which extends further than any part of the corona, the western side is 
less conspicuous and extensive than the eastern, and shows less detail near the limb. 
On the eastern side the north polar rift is bounded by a large mass, composed of 
broad rays showing some tendency to synclinal curves. The edge which bounds the 
rift is much inclined from the radial in an equatorial direction, and is more sharply 
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