National Eclipse

The Solar Eclipse.

The partial Eclipse of the Sun yesterday attracted general observation in the City. The atmosphere was clear and the morning pleasant, and the view of the phenomenon was accordingly uninterrupted. The obscuration in this latitude commenced at 7.35 A.M., and ended at 9.12, the maximum being reached at 8.21. Nearly four digits, or about one-third of the sun's disc was obscured. The Eclipse has been considered remarkably favorable for the approximate determination of longitudes, and was probably used very generally for that purpose in this country, where such occasions are rendered highly important by the number of meridians and imperfectly known localities. In Poland, (lat 50° 36'7 North; long. 27° 5'5 East,) the Eclipse of yesterday and that of July 8, 1842, were central, so that the inhabitants of that locality have had an opportunity of beholding two total eclipses of the sun in the course of nine years. The width of the shadow of the Moon yesterday varied while passing over the earth, but in Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Prussia, it was about 140 geographical miles. The most favorable situations for observation were points where the eclipse was central, on the western coast of Greenland, the southern part of Norway, Sweden, and the island of Oeland, and in Prussia on the Baltic, between Dantzie and Konigsberg. Arrangements were probably made for careful observations at these points by European and American astronomers. The results will be anxiously looked for by scientific men, and will be a valuable addition to the cause of Astronomical research.

Two annular Eclipses, visible in the United States, will occur within the ensuing twenty-four years. The first of these will occur on the 26th of May, 1854; the other, on the 29th September, 1875.

Within the seventy-five years between 1826 and 1901, the shadow of the Moon will have passed three times over the Atlantic coast. On November 30, 1834, it passed over Georgia and South Carolina; on August 7, 1869, it will pass over North Carolina and Virginia; and on May 25, 1900, over part of Virginia.

A great Solar Eclipse will take place on the 15th of March, 1858—i.e. within seven years; and a still more remarkable one, when the disc will be nearly covered, on the 19th August, 1887—thirty-six years hence.

From the present time to the year 1900 there will be eighteen Eclipses of the Sun, the order and date of which are shown in the subjoined table. The number of digits eclipsed in 1854 will be 11° 20, and the eclipse will probably be annular at Boston and in some parts of New-York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire and Maine. That of 1859 will not extend to the Southern States, and will not be central in this country. That of 1860 will be the third return of the Total Eclipse of June 16, 1806; and that of 1865 the third return of the Eclipse of September, 1811, and annular in the States of North and South Carolina, while at Charleston the ring will last 6 ¾ minutes. In 1866 there will be no eclipse south of Connecticut, and no central eclipse in any part of the Earth.

The third return of the Eclipse of April 2, 1791, took place in 1845, and was annular at Boston. The fourth return of the Total Eclipse of June 10, 1806, will be total in Cuba, in 1878. In 1880, the shadow of the Moon will be very nearly at its least possible distance from the Earth.

M.