ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16845, 22 September 1922, Page 3

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

OBSERVATIONS IN AUSTRALIA. WEATHER FAVOURABLE. Ty TVlßerra-ph—Prom Association—Copvrierb' Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. SYDNEY. September 21. The eclipse vas witnessed in Svdnev in almost perfect* •, clear weather. A few minutes aftc four o’clock, when the greatest phase occurred only four teen per cent of the sun’s disc wn« risible. The effect was ns if the smi were being obscu/ed bv heavy clouds It lieeame necessary to use lights in many of the business places, but the darkness quickly bfted. For over an hour crowds thronged the parks and streets gating at the skv through various devices, vendor* of which did a ’hriving trade and the roofs of cifr building? were covered with people similarly engaged. Late advices From th« totnlitv zone and the northei u centres stated that there was every indication iliht the eclipse would be viewed in a cloudless sky. The weather was windy. T\ FATHER CONDITIONS PERFECT The Hon .1. Hislop. Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, has received the folio wing cablogvam from Wallal, from I>r C. E. Adams, the Government astronomer : “ The eclipse was observed in pej-fect weather.” AS VIEWED IN CHRISTCHURCH. WATCHED BY TARGE CROWDS. The partial eclipse of the sun which was visible, in Christchurch yesterday afternoon, was watched with considerable interest by large numbers i ->f people. Promptly at 4.00 p.tn. the rnoon obscured the lower edge of the sun and era dually it worked upwards until when the sun set at 5.02 p.m. about seven-tentha of its face obliterated. Many groups of people v ere to be seen standing in the streets and on the Toots of buildings watohing the eclipse through smoked glasses At the observatory at Canterbury College, a number of professors and students observed the gradual pr ogre*.=n oi the moon in its passage across the face of the sun, by means of the equatorial telescope in the tower. WAITING AT WALLAL. The most striking feature of the Wallal solar eclipse encampment i» the tower for the 40-feet camera, which stands high abovo the surrounding trees, and is visible over all the district writes the special correspondent of the .Melbourne ‘‘Age.’* The tower, which is thirty-four feet high and ten feet square at the base, is of wood, and is built around an inner tower of similar height, bnt smaller oros3 sections. The inner tower supports til© lons of the camera, and the outer tower the upper end of the camera tube, which is of canvas lined with black cloth, supported by a framework of iron piping. The lower end of the tube is supported about four feet from the ground and is there enclosed by a light-proof tent, which contains the plate holder and the observer during totality. The plat© is supported on a specially designed wooden stand, and is moved on the stand so as to compensate for the Klin’s apparent motion. The plates used are seventeen inches by fourteen inches, and the observer has a clear view of the plat© while the image is being imprinted upon it. He is really iu the rear end of the camera. W'ith this instrument Dr Campbell intends to photograph the disappearing and the reappearing solar crescent so as to check the moon’s position, and to photograph the solar corona so as to study the structure of that part of the sun. This camera is in charge of Dr C. E. Adams, New Zealand Government Astronomer. Within a few feet of the tower the large Einstein camera of the Lick Observatory has been erected. This instrument has been specally designed for the problem, aud the lenses which are employed are considered to be perfect. To the west of the fifteen foot Einstein camera is the smaller Einstein camera of five feet focal length. Both these cameras have been designed for groat rigidity, and are built of structural steel. To render these steel

frames light-proof they are covered with two layers of black cloth, black inside and white outside—white outside so that the tube may not be heated internally by the sun’s rays. The Canadian party has also completed the erection of its Einstein camera. It is of intermediate size to the two Lick cameras, and is also constructed of structural steel. As in the Lick camera, the lens has been specially designed for the Einstein problem.