Abstract
THE total eclipse of the sun which will occur on August 19 next, though only of average duration, will offer exceptional opportunities for observation from the circumstance that the track of the moon's shadow will be almost entirely a continental one, in striking con trast to the eclipses of the last four years, in all of which the shadow has followed a course which has been principally over the great oceans. The eclipse is technically a partial one for the principal part of Great Britain, but as it will be nearly over before sunrise, it will practically not be visible here. The middle phase will have been reached at sunrise, for places a little to the west of Berlin: and this city lying within the path of the shadow, it is just possible that it may be favoured with a sight of the phenomena of totality, though with a sun close to the horizon; for the sun will be largely obscured as it rises, and will not be quite 3° high at the end of the total phase. From Prussia the shadow track passes into Russia, and the central line does not leave the borders of the Russian Empire until it reaches East longitude 112°. It then crosses Manchuria and the Sea of Japan, and cuts the principal island of the Japanese group a little to the north of the capital. The final portion of its course lies over the North Pacific Ocean, and except for the little island of Rico de Oro, it does not touch land again. But the path of totality not only lies mainly over land, a large number of important towns are either actually included within, or lie very close to its limits. Königsberg lies just outside. Kovno, Wilna, and Vitebsk, are well within the shadow; Wilna being nearly on the central line. At these towns, however, the sun will still be too low for them to afford desirable stations for observations, and probably the neighbourhood of Moscow will be the nearest district which will be occupied by astronomers. At Moscow itself, the eclipse will not be quite total, since that city lies just outside the southern edge of the shadow-track, but three lines of rail way radiating from Moscow will afford easy access to places actually on the central line. The most westerly of these three railways is that which unites St. Petersburg with the older capital, and which passes through Twer. Twer is nearly on the central line, but a little to the north of it. The sun will have an elevation of about 16° in this neighbourhood, and the maximum duration of totality is not quite two minutes and a half. At Twer itself it will be only 124 seconds. Three parties, two German, and one French, will take up positions within the Government of which Twer is the capital. The second line runs from Moscow to Vologda, passing through Jaroslavl, which lies within but near the edge of the shadow. Petrowsk on this railway is very near the central line, and here the sun will be 2° higher than near Twer, and the duration 152 seconds. The third line runs to Kineshma, which is itself very near the central line. Here the sun will be about 20° high, and the total eclipse on the central line will last 156 seconds. It will not, however, be difficult to proceed to yet more favourable positions further east. From Moscow there is a line through Nijni Novgorod to Kazan, and a service of river steamers runs thence up the River Kama to Perm. Perm lies to the south of the central line, but the totality lasts there 173 seconds, whilst the sun is 28° high at mid eclipse. If the weather should be favourable, Perm would be there fore a very suitable station for those astronomers who can spare the time to journey so far; for others the neighbourhoods of Petrowsk and Kineshma will afford readily accessible sites. Prof. Bredichin, Director of the Moscow Observatory, has his own private observatory only two kilometres from Kineshma, and very close to the central line; and he has generously offered the hospitality of his house to the Royal Astronomical Society for two English astronomers, an offer which has been gratefully accepted by the Society, on behalf of Dr. Copeland and the Rev. S. J. Perry. Prof. C. A. Young also will have his station here, and a strong party of Italian and English astronomers, consisting of Profs. Tacchini and Riccò, and Messrs. Common and Turner, will be located at no great distance away, in the neighbouring Government of Vladimir.
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The Total Solar Eclipse of August 19, 1887. Nature 36, 60–61 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/036060a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/036060a0