Abstract
THE discrepancies referred to by Mr. J. Y. Buchanan (p. 603) as existing between the French and British predictions for the recent total eclipse of the sun are due simply to the fact that a different value of the moon's diameter is adopted in the Connaissance des Temps from that in the Nautical Almanac, the former being about 2.7 greater than the latter. Hence the breadth of the zone of totality and the duration of totality on the central line are greater in the French than they are in the British ephemeris. But there is no occasion to impute mistake to the French calculators. They merely assume a value of the moon's diameter that is, in my opinion, too large for eclipse purposes.
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DOWNING, A. Eclipse Predictions. Nature 72, 629 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/072629e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/072629e0
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