COMING ECLIPSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 110, 12 May 1938, Page 8

COMING ECLIPSES

MOON ON SATURDAY

SUN'S TURN LATEfi

There will be a total eclipse of the moon on Saturday evening. It will be visible throughout New Zealand, in common with a large part of the world —weather permitting.

The sun that evening will set in Wellington at 4.44 p.m., the full moon having risen 12 minutes earlier. At C 5.14 p.m. the moon will enter the t. penumbra, a part of the eclipse phenomenon which is rarely noticeable; and at 6.27 p.m. it enters the umbra, I or earth's shadow proper. t th§ time when to ordinary observation the eclipse appears to begin. At 7.48 p.m. the moon's face will be totally 3 obscured by the earth's shadow;—sun, j earth, and moon then being in a straight line. The total phase of the eclipse will last until 8.39 p.m.—nearly an hour. Thereafter the earth's shadow and the moon will gradually i part company, the moon leaving - the t umbra at 10.1 p.m. and the penumbra ] at 11.13 p.m. The whole phenomenon, ■ therefore, will last for six hours. , During the eclipse the moon will , the southern portion of . the umbra, or earth's shadow, so it is - possible that the eclipse will be a ■ bright one. It should be easy to ob- , serve the faintest ' stars, ordinarily ' visible, during the eclipse, as the moon will be in a very starry region, between Alpha Librae and Delta Scorpionis. The beginning of this eclipse will'be visible generally in the Atlantic Ocean, except the eastern part, in North America, except the extreme northern part; in South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, the eastern extremity, of Australia, and the Pacific Ocean, except the north-western part.. The end will be visible generally in the central and western part of North America, the western part of South America/Antarctica, the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, Australia, and the north-eastern extremity of Asia. Pitcairn Island will be about the most favourably-placed spot from which to view the eclipse. On Saturday evening the Wellington City Observatory will not be open to the public, as the instruments will be required for observation purposes by the staff. However, a naked-eye view of the moon is quite satisfactory, and can always be' supplemented by binoculars to advantage. .It is never possible to forecast the exact colour or 1 appearance that the moon will assume during the total phase of the eclipse, 1 this always being an intriguing aspect ! of the .phenomenon. A WASTED SPECTACLE. i On May 29 the sun, earth, and moon • will again be in a straight line with I each other, only on tnis occasion the ' moon will be between the earth and the sun. This* will cause a total eclipse of the sun, but unfortunately the path of totality, which is a fairly wide one, l;es over the watery waste of the south Atlantic Ocean, and the total phase of the eclipse will be witnessed by only a few observant whales • and penguins. The greatest duration of totality will \be. just over four minutes. In the extreme south of South America and of South Africa a brief glimpse of a partial eclipse will be This forthcoming total eclipse of the suil is interesting in that it is the_flrst 1 of a new series occurring every eighteen years. The only one, of the series, however, which will be visible in New Zealand as a total eclipse will not oc--1 cur until the year 2028, which is a long time to wait, and even then it will be necessary to go to the southern part t of the South Island to see the ;total phase, the remainder of the Dominion witnessing the phenomenon as a parr" tial eclipse only .