When the plates were developed the astrographic images were found to
be out of focus. This is attributed to the effect of the sun's heat
on the coelostat mirror. The images were fuzzy and quite different
from those on the check-plates secured at night before and after the
eclipse. Fortunately the mirror which fed the 4-inch lens was not
affected, and the star images secured with this lens were good and
similar to those got by the night-plates. The observers stayed on in
Brazil until July to secure the field in the night sky at the altitude
of the eclipse epoch and under identical instrumental conditions.
The plates were measured at Greenwich immediately after the observers'
return. Each plate was measured twice over by Messrs. Davidson and
Furner, and I am satisfied that such faults as lie in the results
are in the plates themselves and not in the measures. The figures
obtained may be briefly summarized as follows: The astrographic plates
gave 0''.97 for the displacement at the limb when the scale-value was
determined from the plates themselves, and 1''.40 when the scale-value
was assumed from the check plates. But the much better plates gave
for the displacement at the limb 1''.98, Einstein's predicted value
being 1''.75. Further, for these plates the agreement was all that
could be expected....
After a careful study of the plates I am prepared to say that there
can be no doubt that they confirm Einstein's prediction. A very
definite result has been obtained that light is deflected according
to Einstein's law of gravitation.
Professor A. S. Eddington
Royal Observatory
Mr. Cottingham and I left the other observers at Madeira and arrived
at Principe on April 23.... We soon realized that the prospect of
a clear sky at the end of May was not very good. Not even a heavy
thunderstorm on the morning of the eclipse, three weeks after the end
of the wet season, saved the situation. The sky was completely cloudy
at first contact, but about half an hour before totality we began to
see glimpses of the sun's crescent through the clouds. We carried
out our program exactly as arranged, and the sky must have been
clearer towards the end of totality. Of the 16 plates taken during
the five minutes of totality the first ten showed no stars at all;
of the later plates two showed five stars each, from which a result
could be obtained. Comparing them with the check-plates secured at
Oxford before we went out, we obtained as the final result from the
two plates for the value of the displacement of the limb 1''.6 ±
0.3.... This result supports the figures obtained at Sobral....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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