THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11644, 4 May 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

ENGLISH EXPEDITION READY TO START. BEST SEEN AT SUMATRA. TtiK total eclipse of tbo sun which takes place on May IS will not be visible in Europe, but two expeditions arc on the point of storting from England to make observations thereon at Mauritius and Sumatra. A party of Dutch scientists is also making its. way to the. Dutch Indies, the exact destination being Packing, and to this expedition several English observers will probably be attached. The eclipse will be best observed from Sumatra, where the totality will be of the longest; but the weather in that "locality is the reverse of reliable, and, therefore, Mauritius, where the totality is less but the atmospheric conditions more favourable, will be the chosen spot for the special expedition organised by the Astronomer Royal. Another expedition will, however, take' the risks of observation at Sumatra. This party starts under the auspices of a joint eclipse committee of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society ; it is assisted by Government, and is headed by Mr. Newall, of Cambridge, and Mr. Turner, of Oxford.

Mr. Barnard, of Ycrkes University, U.S.A.. is going to Solok, a place inland, where he proposes to take photographs on a large scale of the corona in the same manner as Professor Christie took in Ovar. Solok is 1300 ft above the sea, and should prove an excellent point of vantage. At the Mauritius totality begins at 7.52 •a.m.. on May 18, the greatest phase is two minutes later, and at 7.55 totality ends. A very active part will be taken in the observations by British astronomers," said Sir Norman Lockver, director of the SolarPhysics Observatory, South Kensington, to a Daily Mail representative. " Unfortunately we here at the Solar Physics Observatory are so full up with work that it is impossible for us to go, much as we should have liked to do so. We have consequently arranged with the observers who are being sent out by the Dutch Government to do the work that we were going to do, so that there will be no loss as far as we are concerned."