The proceedings of the Canadian Eclipse Party, 1869Ashe, E. D. (Edward David)
History
The proceedings of the Canadian Eclipse Party, 1869
Ashe, E. D. (Edward David)
Solar eclipses -- 1869
I now come to the most remarkable photogram that has ever been
taken of an eclipse. No. IV. was taken as near the limb of the sun
as it is possible to take one, for on shutting down the slide, out
burst the sun. In this photogram you can see two luminous concentric
bands running from A to E, separated by a dark space, or rather a
dark band, which takes its origin on a part of the protuberance A.
(See fig. 3.) These bands are crossed by numerous bright rays, all
parallel to themselves and to the protuberances A and E. There are
two bright beams, and both, together with the bright rays, are
divided by this dark band. At E is seen the protuberance with a
triplicate form, and appears to be three parallel planes of light;
upon the upper one there appears a dark line, similar to those
seen upon fig. 3. Now, on looking at the Des Moines photogram, you
actually see the stumps of these three parallel planes; could
anything be more satisfactory? I will leave it to others to discuss
these various phenomena, which will throw much light on the physical
constitution of the sun, but will recapitulate some of the facts
deduced from our observations. The corona belongs to the sun, and not
to the moon. Some of the protuberances are formed by the shooting
of a flame, which burns out, leaving something that looks like a
cinder, which crumbles into a heap, and then retains that form for
some time; that there are luminous gases that surround the sun in
concentric strata divided by a non-luminous layer; that the notches
on the limb of the moon are the reflections of the upper part of the
protuberances from the surface of the moon; that at a great distance
from the sun there is a violent current of gas in an opposite
direction to the motion of the sun upon its axis; that the light
band surrounding the moon's limb in photograms of the partial
eclipse, may be caused by the reflection from the second or under
side of the plate.
In conclusion, I congratulate those gentlemen who so kindly assisted
me on our complete success, especially my dear friend and old
ship-mate, Professor Stephen Alexander, without whose assistance
no Canadian party would have been formed; and also, Mr. Vail, of
Philadelphia, who kindly joined our party, and whose annexed report
gives such ample proof of the value of our negatives.
E. D. ASHE,
Commander, Royal Navy,
Director Observatory, Quebec.
June 22nd, 1870.
REPORT OF MR. VAIL.
"BOSTON, August 21, 1869.
"Commander ASHE, _Quebec Observatory_.
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