SOLAR ECLIPSE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22574, 12 November 1936, Page 16

SOLAR ECLIPSE

NOTABLE EVENT OBSERVATIONS IN DECEMBER an interesting lecture An interesting and detailed lecture on what the public may export to see, and what more expert observers hope to gain on December 14, when an annular solar eclipse is due to occur, was given last night by Mr. G. B. Bell in the physics lecture room at Auckland University College. The lecture was arranged by the Auckland Astronomical Society, and there was a large attendance of members and of the general public. Observations of the eclipse, said Mr. Bell, would be of value not only to astronomers, but also to those engaged in research and those who desired to cheek the accuracy of mathematical tables from observing the times of the contacts of tho sum anil the moon. Determination of the geographical boundaries of the eclipse on the earth would also bo of considerable value, and observations of the sky around, of the apparent position of the stars, and of the effect on magnetic conditions would be among the other details which would have to bo given attention. There would be four definite points of contact between the moon and the sun during the eclipse. I lie first would be when the edge of the moon touched the edge of the sun, the second when the eclipse became annular, the third when the annular phase ended, and the last when the moon finally left the sun. its edge just touching the edge of the sun externally. Between the first and second contacts there was generally the space of an hour, and there was a similar time between the third and fourth contacts. The duration of annular eclipse might be up to seven and a-half minutes. Mr. Bell described the phenomenon in fletail and described the circumstances in which it occurred. He also worked out the cycle of its operation and told how the eclipse in December was occurring in the corresponding period to the one which had been observed in England in June, 1927. He illustrated his talk with a number of diagrams and photographs.