Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1896 — THE SOLAR ECLIPSE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

Northern; Asia Has Been the Center of Astronomical Interest, An eclipse of the sun is caused by the moon passing between the sun and the earth, as shown in the accompanying diagram. During the recent eclipse the shadow of the moon first touched this earth at an unuamable town in Russia. Throughout the whole ot Europe, except France and Spain, in Asia, above the 35tli degree of latitude in Alaska aud most of Polynesia

(A, represents the earth. B, represents earth’s orbit. C. represents the moon, and E represents the moon’s orbit. U, represents the earth’s shadow that makes an eclipse tor some other planet.

the eclipse was a partial obscuration. But there was a favored belt,- not more than 120 miles wide at the most, extending from a point in the North Sea across Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Nova Zeinbla, Sil eria, Manchuria and Japan, where the obscuration was total. To understand the character of the eclipse, imagine a small, circular, non-lu-mmous body intervening between a larger luminous giobe and your eye, and near enough to the eye to obscure the larger body, as a penny held near enough to the eye will hide a silver dollar, or an orange will shut off from the eye the big glass globe around an arc light. The shadow of the orange will be cone-shaped, large near the orange and narrowing down to a point. So with the sun and moon, and at the time of the August eclipse the shadow, which began at the near side of the moon with i diameter equal to the moon's, was truncated, just before it was narrowed to » point, by the earth, and fell upon the earth with a breadth of about 100 miles. It was as if the moon took a monster paint brush, molded it to a point, and, applying a little pressure, drew a narrow black line around that part of the

earth which revolved within reach. The black line, or ipiud, or shadow, marked the e.a£tft from a poiat west of Norway, in, the ocean, across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Northern Bussia and Siberia, the Pacific Ocean, and some of the northern islands of Japan. Of these last it fell upon Soya and the north end of Yezo, Momlietsu and Yubetsu. From Yubetsu it went on, falling upon mountains 6,600 or 7,000 feet high, and continued over the ocean some hundreds of miles, and hen vanished. Within this long, hundredmile wide belt of darkness the several observing parties took stand at different points., The French, German and, Italian astronomers made observations frpm Norway and nfeat Varan'jfer Fjord, ■t Vadso and Yardo in Finland. The eclipse there was shorter than at Yexa. __

DIAGRAM OF ECLIPSE.

PATH OF TOTAL ECLIPSE.