Moses Holden and the Solar Eclipse of 1842
On
July 8th 1842 the Preston astronomer Moses Holden observed
a partial eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse was at maximum at 05.47 and
about 75% of the Sun was covered by the Moon.
Although
the first part of the eclipse was not seen from Preston due to cloud
but the cloud had cleared by mid eclipse. Holden reported seeing
mountains on the Moon around its edge as it passed in front of the
Sun.
Moses
Holden was clearly a very careful astroonmer as he reported to the
local paper that they would have to revise the timings of the eclipse
as his watch was seven and five/tenths of a second fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment