| Solar eclipse of January 14, 1926 | |
|---|---|
 A photo of the eclipse, taken from Sumatra by John A. Miller of the Swarthmore expedition | |
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Total |
| Gamma | 0.1973 |
| Magnitude | 1.043 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 251 sec (4 m 11 s) |
| Coordinates | 10°06′S 82°18′E / 10.1°S 82.3°E |
| Max. width of band | 147 km (91 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 6:36:58 |
| References | |
| Saros | 130 (47 of 73) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9341 |
A total solar eclipse occurred on January 14, 1926. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Totality was visible from French Equatorial Africa (the part now belonging to Central African Republic), northeastern Belgian Congo (today's DR Congo), southwestern tip of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (the part now belonging to South Sudan), British Uganda (today's Uganda), British Kenya (today's Kenya), southern tip of Italian Somaliland (today's Somalia), British Seychelles (today's Seychelles), Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia), North Borneo (now belonging to Malaysia), and Philippines.
The event was observed by astronomers, of which several groups gathered in Sumatra, to watch the eclipse.[1] One was from Germany, one was from the Netherlands, and three were from the United States (the Naval Observatory, Sproul Observatory, and the Bureau of Standards).[1][2] A Reuters correspondent gave the total number of astronomers on Sumatra as 50.[3]
The Dutch expedition, in Palambang, was unable to observe the first phase of the eclipse (due to cloud coverage);[3] the leader of a British expedition in Bencoolen reported that he had "carried out his full program".[3] The Naval Observatory was specifically cited as being set up in Tebing Tinggi, in the southeast of Sumatra.[4] One objective of the observations was to evaluate Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity; cloudy conditions made this difficult. John Miller, head of an expedition from Swarthmore College set up in Bencoolen,[4] is quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer:[5]
That theory, which was advanced a few years ago to support Newton's law of gravitation, has proved difficult to astronomers, since important data bearing upon it can only be gathered during periods of total eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse in January of last year, which was visible in sections of New England, was also a failure in that respect, since atmospheric conditions were not satisfactory for applying the Einstein theory to the test. Special photographic equipment for gathering data on the theory was taken to Sumatra by the Swarthmore scientists, and four playtes wer made during the eclipse, Dr. Miller cabled.
[...]
"No authentic statement can be made until after the plates have been developed, but we believe that the ten plates exposed in the great 62-foot camera are not seriously affected; the ones in the shorter cameras may be, but it is not likely. We are apprehensive that the four plates exposed in the fifteen-foot twin-camera for the Einstein effect are damaged. The stars surrounding the sun were rather faint and we fear the thin clouds may have blotted the faint stars out. If this is so the Einstein experiment will have failed."[5]
The Swarthmore team had arrived in November 1925, and taken two months to set up the equipment for the observation.[5] Apart from the relativity experiments, other photographs were taken to better understand the composition of the Sun's corona: "Because of the immense distances from the sun's surface which the corona attains, it has been assumed by astronomers that the corona was not composed of gases as are the 'prominences,' seen nearer the surface. What the composition of the corona may be has not been discovered."[2] While the experiments in Sumatra observed the event nearly unobstructed, others in Manila failed completely, on account of cloudy weather.[2][4] Australian reports from Melbourne confirmed it was visible there.[2] [4]
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