Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900 — John Shaqi
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The cloudiness along the track of the eclipse in the Southern States
on the 28th of May, 1900, is evidently a matter of much importance not
only for all astronomers, but for non-professional spectators. If it
could be foretold, with the same precision as the astronomical data
give the time and the place of the occurrence of the eclipse, that
the day itself will be fair or cloudy, or that certain portions of
the track will be clear while others will be obscured, it would be of
great benefit. The cost of these scientific expeditions is very great,
since it is necessary to transport many heavy and delicate pieces
of apparatus into the field, including telescopes, spectroscopes,
polariscopes, and photographic cameras, and set them up in exact
position for the day of observation. The expedition to Cape Ledo, West
Africa, in 1889, carried out a large amount of material, prepared it
for work during the totality, and then entirely lost the sun during
the critical moments by a temporary obscuring of the sky through local
cloud formations. There had been some clouds at the station during
the forenoons for several days preceding the eclipse, but the sky was
usually clear and very favorable during the middle of the afternoons.
The totality came on at three o’clock, and photographs of the sun were
taken at first contact about 1.30 P. M.; clouds thickened, however,
and totality was entirely lost, while the sun came out again for the
last contact at 4.30 P. M. This was a very trying experience, and of
course could not have been avoided by any possible precautions. Some
astronomers have thought that the advance of the moon’s shadow is
accompanied by a fall in temperature, and that cloudiness is more
likely to be produced from this cause.
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