Show TEE ECIPSE OF TJIE r llij The Total Eclipse of the Sun on May 17 1882 April 25 1846 and May 28 1900 On April 25th 1846 there wa a large eclipse of the sun in the United States etc by which more than half of it was eclipse at Boston and nine leentwentietba at Key West at t e extremity of Florida Tne central IK e passed JOt the moat part over water the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but it also crossed the island of Cuba AB the apparent diameter of the nun on that day as given by the table was some seconds larger than tnat of the moon the central eclipse ot places where the sun was quite low was annular but at those where it was rather high the diameter diame-ter of the moon was rendered by iti altitude apparently the larger and the eclipse was total at no place however no longer than a half of a minute This was the case in the island of Cuba where the greatest obscuration took place about eleven a m but at only one town viz Sagna la Grande where as was afterwards after-wards ascertained the duration of the total eclipse WJB nearly half a minute min-ute and the width of the moons shadow about twenty five mIles As eclipses return under several quite similar circumstances in eighteen eigh-teen years and eleven days very nearly the obscuration of April 25th 1846 will return for the second time on May 17th 1882 and as the apparent appar-ent diameter of the sun on that day is ten seconds less than on the 25th of April the eclipse will be total everywhere every-where where it is central lit will begin or reach the earth at sunrise in Africa in latitude 10 degrees north longitude 8 degrees west thence pass across upper Egypt the two bays at the northwestern extremity ex-tremity of the Red sea and the peninsula pen-insula of binai thence to Teheran the capital of Persia thence to the place where it will be central at noon with a duration of totality of a minute min-ute and a half in latitude 39 degrees longitude 61 degiees east then moving mov-ing in an east by south direction and a few miles north of Shanghai it will leave the earth at sunset in latitude 25 degrees nortn and longitude 139 degrees east This eclipse along the central line and near the Red sea the peninsula cf Sinai and to Teheran places of easy access will be very tine and it is probable we shall be informed that many European astronomers and perhaps a few fro n the United States took favorable positions along this line for the purpose pur-pose ot observing the magnificent spectacle This eclipse will be largs in the southern part of Europe and the greater part of Asia not in America bat alter another interval ot eighteen yean and eleven days it will again return uu May 28th 1900 and be totI uu its crmtrral line which will pass Irom very near New Orleans to Norfolk and it will be the only eclipse in the United States in the re amder of tue nineteenth century that will ne total The central cen-tral line will begin at sunrise in lattude 18 df grees nrtblongitude 117 degrees west thence pass in a northeasterly north-easterly direction very near New Orleans and Norfolk to latitude 45 degrees and longitude 45 degrees west on the Atlantic ocean where it will be central at noon and the duration dura-tion of totality upwards a minute and a half it will then take an east to an east southeast direction and reach Portugal in latitude 41 decrees longitude 8 degrees west a few miles south of Oportotbenoe passing across Portugal and Spain it will leave Europe at Alicante cross the Mediterranean Medi-terranean and the northeast of Africa and will leave the east at sunset in Egypt in latitude 25 degrees north longitude 32 degreeaeast The width of the moons shadow near Norfolk will be about sixty miles and the length of the totality about a minute and a third A total eclipse ot the sun at any particular place is a phenomenon phe-nomenon of ruth occurrence that it is believed there has not been even one at a large part of cur principal cities and towns since the settlement of the country As tberefore Norfolk is so accesdibleand the time of totality about 9 am so convenient it is probable that not only nearly all our ustronomers but many who take only a general interest in astronomy will proceed to the vicinity of that city on May 28th 1900 to behold the phenomenon which if seen will not soon be forgotten This eclipse will of course be only total within the liiaita of the central line a narrow strip about sixty miles wide yet it will be very large and striking in all our Atlantic states and at the cities of Washington Baltimore Philadelphia I Philadel-phia New York Boston Portland I etc quite eleventwelfths of the suns i disc will be obscured The longest pottle duration of a total eclipse of the sun is seven and a half minutes min-utes but such an one probably has never occurred and the longest observed ob-served duration of any eclipse at anyplace any-place was quite a half a minute lessOn less-On the eighth return of the eclipse = of May 22nd 1724 the last total eclipse in Great Britain on August 18th 1868 the duration of totality in Asia with the Bun and moon in the zenith was six minutes and 56 secondsthe longest certainly in this century The longest in the United States was we bplieve in that grand eclipse so carefully care-fully observed by our great astronomer astrono-mer the late Dr N Bowditch which took place near noon at Boston on June 16 1806 viz five minutes ten seconds and the width of the moons shadow on the central line between J Albany and Boston was 150 miles J I At Boonborough Iowa the duration = 0 i I of totality in thR fine eclipse there of r August 7th3I869 was three minctes t fiftyeight oneeighth seconds At Beaufort South Carolina on Nov I ember 30th 1834 the duration wag II one minute forty nine onesixth seconds sec-onds a beautiful ellipse whiJe on January 11th 1880 at the station Sycamore on the Southern railroad about 200 miles south of San Francisco Fran-cisco the duration was only half a minute thirty oneeighth second as the Bun was very low The next annular eclipse of the sun visible in the United States will take place on March 16th 1885 when the central line coming across the Pacific in a northeasterly direction will reach the northwest corner of California in latitude 41 degrees longitude 122 degrees and thence pass across Oregon Montana the extreme northern part of Manitoba to the centre of Hudsons bay where it will be central at noon in latitude 561 degrees de-grees north longitude 91 degrees westthence passing in a northeastern direction it will leave the earth at sunset in latitude 71J degrees north longitude 15 degrees west This is the third return of the annular eclipse of February 12th 1831 so satisfactorily observed at a lighthouse ofi Obatham Cape Cod Boston Daily Advertiser |