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XXI.—On the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on July 28, 1851, observed at Göteborg; with a Description of a new Position Micrometer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2013

Extract

Having long desired to witness a total eclipse of the sun, I resolved to proceed to some place in the line of the moon's shadow, for the purpose of observing that which took place on the 28th of last July.

Various reasons induced me to prefer the town of Göteborg in Sweden to any other station. It had interesting historical associations connected with eclipses: and there was something pleasing in the prospect of seeing the red prominences, which excited so much attention at the eclipse of 1842, at the very spot where they were observed, probably for the first time, in 1733; but a more important ground of preference, was its proximity to the central line of the moon's shadow, and its being directly accessible from England.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1853

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References

page 335 note * See Observatio Eclipsis Solis totalis cum mora facta Gothoburgi Sveciæ, &c., à Dom. Birgero Vassenio.—Phil. Trans., vol. xxxviii.

page 336 note * This map, published by A. Hahr, is entitled Topografisk Karta öfver Götheborgs Omgifning Jemte plan öfver Staden med dess nya Hambyggnad. 1844.

page 336 note † Since this paper was read, Lieutenant Pettersson has kindly verified my calculation, and assigns, as the position of my station, lat. 57° 42′ 58″·0 N., long. 0h 47m 45s·3 E.

page 336 note ‡ As the value of the following observations must depend greatly on the character of the instrument with which they were made, I may mention that this telescope shews bright stars, with perfectly round, well-defined discs; and, with a power of 75, the two stars in Castor are seen completely separated.

page 336 note § To Professor Chevallier, and especially to Lieutenant Pettersson, my warmest thanks are also due, for their kind assistance and advice.

page 338 note * The chief inconvenience I found in using this instrument, arose from being obliged to point the telescope by the hand. A slow rack motion would have been very useful. In observing a total solar eclipse, every moment is so valuable, that too much care cannot be bestowed beforehand in having everything adapted to save time. From my own experience, I should recommend observers to have their telescope mountings as commodious and firm as possible.

page 339 note * Shakespeare makes Hecate say:—

—Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporous drop profound.”

This odd fancy forms no unapt description of the rounded appearance of the cusps, which certainly looked very much as if a drop of liquid were depending from them.

page 340 note * Phil. Trans., vol. xxix., p. 248.

page 340 note † The nearly instantaneous appearance of these lines vividly recalled a well-known passage of Coleridge's,—

—that strange shape drove suddenly

Betwixt us and the sun,

And straight the sun was flecked with bars——”

page 341 note * It may be proper to mention that my vision is rather highly myopic, and that I can read with less light than most persons.

page 341 note † It is not meant to indicate by this term any opinion as to the nature of the red prominences.

page 341 note ‡ Phil. Trans., vol. xxix., p. 249.

page 343 note * Outlines of Astronomy, 1851, par. 395.

page 344 note * If this experiment be ever repeated, it should be performed in an apartment, or by means of a box adapted to exclude the general light of the atmosphere. The candle should be carefully preserved in order to compare its light with that of the moon.