Eclipse Of Sun May Cause Earthquakes

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29016, 3 October 1959, Page 15

Eclipse Of Sun May Cause Earthquakes

(Rec. 10 p.m.) GENOA, October 2. Astronomers of the Atlantide cultural centre at Genoa said last night that the total eclipse of the sun today might cause a series of earthquakes round the world, British United Press reported.

It quoted the scientists as saying that the earthquakes could result from the combined gravitational effect of the sun, the moon, Mars and Mercury, which will all be on about the same line today. The area likely to be affected, the scientists said, was a belt under 200 miles wide, extending from the east coast of the United States through the Atlantic to North Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.

They said that the earthquakes could be expected in the “most active seismic areas” inside this belt, including Central America and the mountainous areas in Western Europe and East Africa. A two-man American research team will race the moon’s shadow across the earth in a supersonic jet aircraft to learn more about the eclipse. They will take pictures of the eclipse from 50,000 ft over the Canary Islands, off the north-western coast of Africa. The moon's shadow will be travelling at 27.6 miles a minute while its human pursuers in an FIOIB Voodoo jet will be shoot-

ing across the sky at 18 miles a minute. The idea was born several months ago by a McDonnell Aircraft Corporation scientist and is part of the firm's space research programme. McDonnell is the firm that is building the space capsule in which it is hoped an American will be hurled into space. The Voodoo team will take pictures of the sun's corona, a luminous envelope which surrounds the sun and which is visible only during a total eclipse. The plane also will carry sensitive recording equipment to measure the effect of the corona on the sun's rays. Observation of the eclipse from a high altitude has two advantages: first, it can be seen longer —seven or eight minutes—compared with less than three minutes on the ground; and, second, bad weather which could hamper ground observation would not be as serious at 50,000 ft. The Canary Island site was chosen because the shadow movement is comparatively slow there.