A SOLAR PARADOX

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 34, 9 February 1934, Page 4

A SOLAR PARADOX

NEXT ECLIPSE OF SUN ENDS DAY BEFORE IT BEGINS. “Believe it or not,” as tho American commentator would have it, the next total eclipse will end the day before it begins. At first glance this appears to be an extravagant, even im- , possible, statement, but the truth of the statement cannot be questioned once the facts of the case aro understood It appears likely that this event, to take place next week, will go down in history as the paradox eclipse, by reason of the extraordinary circumstances attaching to its duration and location. The eclipse will start in east longitude and, after sweeping across the Pacific, will finish in west longitude, crossing the date line—the 180th meridian—and therefore losing one calendar day. Just what would be the position of a baby born on a vessel journeying under similar circumstances may be better left to the imagination of a modern Jules Verne. The solar eclipse will begin off the Alalay Peninsula at sunrise on Wednesday, February 14, and will finish off tho coast of Alaska at sunset on the afternoon of the day before, Tuesday, February 13. Unfortunately for New Zealanders, the eclipse of the sun will not be vis iblc from any portion of the Dominion. Indeed, it will be seen in totality in only a restricted area over the Pacific. Almost tho entire portion of the earth’s surface over which the moon’s shadow will pass is confined to the Pacific Ocean. Tho outer limits of the shadow will pass over Eastern Asia, Northern Australia, and the extreme western part of North America, but these countries are so near the edge of the path of the eclipse that the darkening effect of tho eclipse will scarcely be noticed. Tho total eclipse will be visible only within a relatively narrow path varying from 60 to 80 miles in width, states Captain J. F. Hellweg, Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, in an extended paper on the eclipse. The eclipse path will begin about 200 miles off the Malay Peninsula and will follow a gradually curving course across the Pacific. At first, the course of the eclipse path will be a little to the south of east. It will ' then curve very gradually toward the north. In fact, it will curve so slowly that nearly one-half of its course will lie between 2 degrees and 6 degrees north latitude. It then will take a north-easterly course and the eclipse will end off Alaska. With tho exception of two small islands, Losap and Oroluk in the Caroline Group, the eclipse will pass over no other islands or coral reefs. Under these circumstances all observations will have to be made from the decks of ships which happen to be within the path of totality, or on the two islands referred to. At a point on Laol, in the Losap Group, longitude J 52.43 east, latitude 6.54 north, the duration of totality will be 2min ssec. Some interesting figures regarding the eclipse are furnished in the “American Ephormis 1934.” The eclipse begins at latitude 6.35 south and ends at latitude 42.19 north. The longitude commencement will be 120.45 east, and it will end at longitude 146.40 west. The times and dates transposed into local time, are as follow:—Eclipse begins February 14 at 6hr Bmin 6sec and ends February 13 at 17hr 24min 38sec. It had been intended to have a naval observatory expedition to observe the eclipse from the island of Losap, but federal finances did not warrant tihis expense. It is expected that officers and passengers on vessels likely to be in proximity of the path of the eclipse next week will furnish valuable observations on this unique “paradox” eclipse.