Eclipse of the Moon seen through a Cooke in Brighton in 1856
Brighton
Gazette Thursday 16th
October 1856
ECLIPSE
OF THE MOON. THE EDITOR THE BRIGHTON GAZETTE. Sir,—-
Perhaps
the following description of the beautiful lunar eclipse that took
place on Monday, as seen from Howell’s observatory, at Hove, may
not be uninteresting to some of your readers.
The
moon was shinning with intense brightness over the sea, in a
cloudless sky, S. E by S., and at an elevation of about 45 degrees,
when, punctual to the predicted time, 9h. 21m., a slight diminution
of light was evident on the eastern limb of our satellite, like a
very faint wash of Indian ink, and after little a while she advanced
in her easterly course, dipping into the earth’s shadow, this
latter appeared like a small dent in the moon’s side, gradually
growing deeper and wider, until a large piece seemed to have been
actually eaten away. At this time the indented part could not he
distinguished from the surrounding ebon sky, but about half an hour
from the commencement, carefully looking through Howell’s
equatorial for the obscured portion, I could plainly distinguish it,
clearly defined by a sharp edge and of a delicate roseate hue, and
which, on my drawing their attention to it, was also seen by Captain
Shay and the other gentleman present. As the eclipse proceeded and
more of the moon’s disc became covered by the earth s umbra, the
red color grew much stronger, pervading, though with unequal
intensity, the whole portion of the disc on which the shadow was
advancing like a smoky haze, with a very flat curved outline. In
advance of the curved and coppery umbra a variable band of bluish
tint gradually came into view, sometimes very light, which continued
until the period of deepest immersion (l1h. 54m.), when a very small
portion of the moon’s upper limb remained visible, and of a
yellowish green colour. For a quarter of an hour the moon remained
almost entirely buried in the earth’s shadow, but still visible,
the larger portion being of coppery glow, but towards the upper limb
dissolving into orange, this again into blue, and the very small
segment at the top into yellowish green. The appearance of the moon
was now very peculiar, like a transparent body crossed by coloured
zones, parallel to our horizon.
As
time proceeded, the moon was seen slowly rising above the shadow (at
one time looking like a crescent with its horns turned downward), and
as more of the illumined surface came into view the colours gradually
faded away, in reverse order, until the finally disappeared at 27
minutes after midnight, at the south-west edge of the disc, the
obscuration having lasted just three hours six minutes. The
obscuration of the moon made a very perceptible difference to the
brilliancy of Jupiter, situated about to the west, and also to that
of the stars which shone brightly all around, and two small ones
within 15 degrees of the Moon itself. For a short time after eleven
o’clock few clouds passed over the moon, and then the sky remained
clear again to the end.
A
total eclipse of the moon occurred some years ago, when, contrary to
the expectation of several of us who were observing it, the moon’s
disc remained visible as an ill-defined circle of coppery red, even
when completely buried in the earth’s shadow. Remembering this made
me desirous of watching the eclipse of last night, to see whether any
similar phenomena would be displayed during a partial obscuration,
and which I expected, because the eclipse was so nearly total. The
appearances presented last night could be seen with the naked eye;
but through the telescope we could also see the whole surface of the
moon, and plainly distinguish the various spots, lines, and circular
ranges of mountains so well known to astronomers.
The
cause of the singular and beautiful appearances witnessed by last
night was the refraction and decomposition of the sun’s light in
passing through the earth’s atmosphere; but those desirous of
investigating the subject will find it fully explained, on
mathematical principles, in Herschell’s Outlines of Astronomy,
sections 421, 422, 423, and 425. BARCLAY PHILLIPS. 75, Lansdowne
Place, Brighton,