ECLIPSES OF SUN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22499, 17 August 1936, Page 11

ECLIPSES OF SUN

DOMINION OBSERVERS NEXT YEAR'S EXPEDITION PHOENIX AND ELLICE ISLANDS Inference to the New Zealand expedition which will go to Phoenix Island in the 101 life group next year to observe a total eclipse of the sun on .June 8, was made in Wellington at the weekend by Dr. E. Marsdcn, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, The expedition will be a semi-prrrate one led by Mr. C. W. B. Michie, an amateur astronomer, of Kaitaia, but it will have the full cooperation and assistance of the department. On December 14 this year, in certain parts of the Auckland Province there will be visible an annular eclipse of the sun, and observations of this will be made by the same party. The work done then will be in the nature of a rehearsal for the expedition which will later observe the Pacific eclipse. Some instruments are being received on loan from the permanent eclipse committee of the Royal Astronomical Society, London. One is a coronagraph, a camera with a focal length of 14 feet and a lens 4in. in diameter. Arrangements are also in hand for the provision of theodolites, plate holders, tents and tarpaulins, camp gear and meteorological instruments.

Other members of next year's expedition aro likely to be Mr. I. L. Thomson, of the Dominion Astronomical and Seismological Observatory, Wellington, mid Dr. J. H. Rule, superintendent of the Kaitaia Memorial Hospital, as medical officer. A wireless telegraphist and other officers will accompany the expedition. The eclipse in December will be seen as an annular one in a zone of which the southern limit is a line passing approximately through Piopioj near To Kuiti, Wairakei, Lake Waikaremoana, and Morero Hot Springs, south of Gis-

borne. The northern limit is a line approximately through Dargavillo and Great Barrier Island. In all other parts of New Zealand ib will bo seen as a partial eclipse. The expedition's observations are likely to be made from Pukekolio. The New Zealand scientist, Dr. L. J. Coinrie, now director of the British Admiralty Nautical Almanac, has made all the calculations for the eclipse as it will be observed from Pukekohe.