Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 29, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 February 1933 — STAR GAZERS LOOK FORWARD TO BIG SCHEDULE THIS YEAR [ARTICLE]

STAR GAZERS LOOK FORWARD TO BIG SCHEDULE THIS YEAR

Six Comets and Two Eclipses of Sun on Program. Washington.--The sky schedule for 1933 will be of great interest to star gazers, says the American Nature association. Six periodic comets are due for return engagements. Two eclipses of the sun are on the schedule also. Then, too, Mars which is probably of more popular interest than any other planet because of its possibilities as an abode of life and its fascinating and varied surface markings which indicate seasonal changes, is due to come to perihelion on March 1. Perihelion is that point of the orbit of a planet or comet which is nearest to the sun. This is one of the less favorable oppositions, since the planet is 62,700,000 miles distant from the earth at nearest approach on that date. Nevertheless astronomers interested in the physical phenomena of the planets are preparing to keep this little neighboring world under scrutiny before and after the date of opposition, and we may expect to hear more than usual about the ruddy planet Mars within the next few months. Six Comets Due. As to the comets, Nature Magazine lists them by the names of Brorsen, Pons-Winnecke, De Vico-Swift, Giacobini, Finlay and Holmes. The first was discovered by Brorsen. It was last seen in 1879 and is due to come to perihelion again in November. The Pons-Winnecke comet has a period of nearly six years and was discovered by Pons in 1819. It is due to return again in May. The De ViceSwift comet returned in January. Giacobini’s comet was discovered by that astronomer at Nice in 1900. It is due at perihelion in June. Finlay’s comet is also due in June. Holmes’

comet was discovered independently in 1892 by Holmes on November 6 and Davidson on November 9. It is due in August. There will be two eclipses of the sun, both annular. An annular eclipse is one in which the relative positions of sun and moon are such that the moon fails completely to cover the solar disk and there is a thin annulus or ring of light surrounding the dark lunar disk at the time that would correspond to mid-totality of a total solar eclipse. Eclipse of Sun. The first eclipse will occur on February 24. The partial phase will be visible in the southern and central part of South America, all of Africa, except the extreme northwestern part, the western part of the Mediterranean, Greece, Asia Minor, Persia and Arabia. The annulus in this eclipse is visible within a very narrow path with a maximum duration of only 1 minute 55 seconds. This path crosses South America, near the fortieth parallel, the South Atlantic, and from Stephanieville, Africa, to Aden in Arabia. The next eclipse will occur on August 21. The partial phase will be visible in central and eastern Europe and northeastern Africa at sunrise, later in the morning, or near midday, in Siberia, central and southern Asia, and in the afternoon in the Philippines and East Indies. In Australia the eclipse will occur late in the afternoon or at sunset. The path of the annulus, also narrow in this eclipse, passes from Alexandria, in Egypt, over Bagdad, across India, grazing Delhi and Calcutta, across Siam to Borneo, and north Australia, ending on the coast of Queensland at sunset. The duration of the annular phase will be only 2 minutes 18 seconds.