ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 69, 14 December 1907, Page 8

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION,TO FLINT ' . ISLAND.:". ' . (DI TELEGRAM— SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

- [ Auckland, December 12. Tile scientific party which intends visiting Flint Island—ll degrees from the equator, and 400 miles north of Tahiti—for the purpose of making observations and taking photographs of the eclipse of the sun oil January 3, left by the Taviuni for the scene of operations to-day. The party is made up of Mr. l'\. K. M'Clean,- F.RXS., of Tunbridgo Wells, England; Mr. Joseph Brooks, F.R.A.& F.R.G.S., of New South -.Vales; Mr- W. E. Raymond, F.R.A.S.; and Mr .J. W. Short, the latter two being of the Sydney Observatory. These gentlemen will also bo accompanied by the Rev. F. W. WMker, of Ellerslie, and Mr. H. Winkelmann, of Auckland. Mr. C. J. Morfield, from the Sydney Observatory, will also leave Auckland by tha same boat, and will join the expedition'from the famous Lick Observatory of California, under Professor Campbell. The two parties will work separately, the American one leaving San Francisco by the mail steamer, disembarking at Tahiti, and proceeding thence by the U.S. gunboat Minneapolis to Flint Island. The Taviuni, after touching at Tahiti, will take Mr. M'Clean and the Australian scientists on to the scene of their labours, where they expect to arrive on December 23. They will remain there until January 4, the day after the eclipse, when the Taviuni will again call and bring them back to Auckland, arriving here about January 17. Mr. M'Clean and his party are well equipped with scientific appliances, and hope to secure some good views of the eclipse, provided, of course, that the weather conditions are favourable. The iclipsc will only be/observable at two places in the world, viz at Flint Island and Hull Island, which is also near the Equator .