SOLAR ECLIPSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 135, 9 June 1937, Page 7

SOLAR ECLIPSE

INSTRUMENTS READY LENGTHY OBSERVATIONS (By TdcgVaph— Press Association—Copyright) Received June 9, 1 a.m. SYDNEY, June 8. A radio message from the solar eclipse expedition states that both parties are ready and rehearsals have been held in semi-darkness at evening giving eclipse conditions. The Americans have installed four loudspeakers at intervals along the line of instruments for counting the interval of the eclipse. Weather conditions appear good. Observations will commence at midnight and will be completed tomorrow evening. The main features will be totality, and two hours prior to and two hours after. The expedition will probably embark for Wellington to-morrow evening. The total eclipse of the sun on June 8 will be a remarkable one from at least two points of view. It will be the longest eclipse of the sun visible from the earth in 1200 years, having a maximum totality of seven minutes four seconds. But what sounds more remarkable still, the eclipse will end the day before it starts. This latter phenomenon is accounted for by’ the fact that the path of the eclipse crosses the international date line in mid-Pacific, so that it will begin on June 9 but end on June 8. The path of the eclipse extends for several thousands of miles across the Pacific, but Canton Island and Enderbury Island, m the Phoenix Group, happen to be the only islands possessing sufficient terra firma in this vast stretch of ocean from which it will be pcssible to observe the eclipse with the thoroughness demanded by the astronomers.