Path of the Contact of the Northern Limb of the Sun with the Southern Limb of the Moon, or of the Southern Boundary of the Eclipse.

This path, like all the rest, begins in the Pacific Ocean, passes across the north part of the province of Truxillo, in Peru; the provinces of Quito and Spanish Guiana, in Colombia; and the north extremity of Dutch Guiana into the Atlantic Ocean, where it ends a little north of the Cape Verd islands.

Between this and the preceding path are included the northern extremity of the province of Truxillo, the northwest half of the province of Quito, and the southern half of Cundinamarca, a large part of Venezuela, nearly the whole of Spanish Guiana, the northern extremity of Dutch Guiana, and the islands Trinidad, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Grenada, Tobago, Margarita, Blanca, Tortuga, and many others in the West Indies.

The degree of obscuration within this space will be from 3 to 0 digits on the northern limb; under the path of the contact of the limbs, and of course still farther south, the Sun will not be eclipsed.

PHASES OF THE ECLIPSE FOR SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES IN

THE UNITED STATES

The eclipse was computed for the following places by the tables used for computing the path of the centre and that of the digits. For the sake of comparison, the phases at Halifax, Nantucket, and Boston, were likewise computed by the tables of Burckhardt, and for the last of these places, by the tables of Burg, which, however, are now but rarely used.

It will be observed that the several phases of the eclipse, at each place, have been computed for the semidiameters of the Sun and Moon, as given by the tables, and as corrected, for irradiation (—3′′), and inflexion (—2′′), according to the theory of Dusejour. The existence of these corrections is extremely doubtful. Indeed, the correction of the Moon's S. D. for inflexion (2) has been altogether neglected in the computation of the occultations (although introduced into the computation of those of the last year), from the circumstance that in each of the occultations of Aldebaran, observed in Boston in 1829 and 1830, the star was eclipsed longer, by several seconds, than it should have been, if the correction had been well established.

The apparent places of the Sun and Moon were always computed with great care, even the latitude of the Sun being taken into consideration; yet it is not impossible that some small errors may have escaped notice; greater error, however, is to be apprehended from a wrong assumption of

the latitude and longitude of the place in question, although, in these particulars, we have followed the best authorities. Indeed it may be safely remarked, that the geographical positions of but very few places in the United States (especially the longitude), are well established. It is confidently hoped, that the highly favorable opportunity for determining the difference of the meridians of our principal cities, afforded by this remarkable eclipse, and the occultations of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Aldebaran, and Regulus, in the course of this year, will not be neglected.

The longitude and altitude of the Nonagesimal degree of the Ecliptic (in other words, the longitude and latitude of the Zenith) were computed by the method pointed out in the Appendix to the "New Amer. Prac. Navigator." As the position of this point depends on the reduced latitude of the place, the obliquity of the Ecliptic, and the Right Ascension of the Meridian, or of the Zenith, five of the logarithms used in the computation of this point, must be very nearly the same, at any place, for many years; being affected only by the very slow diminution of the obliquity. For the purpose of facilitating as much as possible the recomputation of the eclipse, at any place, should the same be deemed necessary, the sum of these logarithms, as well as the sum of the reductions of the Moon's Equatorial parallax for the ellipticity of the Earth (one three-hundredth), and the Horizontal parallax of the Sun, have been prefixed to the phases; the two first of the logarithms referring to the Longitude, and the third to the Altitude of the Nonagesimal.

The following places have been arranged with reference to the apparent Ecliptic conjunction of the Sun and Moon, which, in mean time for the meridian of Washington, will take place as follows, viz.—

City of NATCHEZ, County of Adams, State of Mississippi.

The Eclipse will begin at a point on the right* side of the Sun, 67° 51′ from the vertex, or highest point of his disc.

At Ap. ♂ and at nearest approach of centres, Moon's centre South of the Sun's 32.78'.

City of NEW ORLEANS, in the Parish of New Orleans and State of Louisiana.

Digits eclipsed 11° 36′ 6" on Sun's North Limb.

The Eclipse will begin at a point on the right side of the Sun, 65° 28′ from the vertex.

At Ap. 6, Moon North, 45.87''; at greatest Obscuration 45.85".

Town of CAHAWBA, in the County of Dallas, lately the Seat of Government of the State of Alabama.

* An eclipse of the Sun always begins on the right side, and an eclipse of the Moon on the left. When a star is eclipsed by the Moon it disappears on her left, and reappears on her right side.

At the nearest Dist. of the North Limbs (not cor.) 19.09" (cor.) 17.59"

Digits eclipsed 11° 46′ 12". Point on the right side of the Sun first struck by the Moon 73° 19′ from the vertex.

Town of NASHVILLE, in the County of Davidson, the Capital of the State of Tennessee.

Digits eclipsed 11° 4′ 31′′ on Sun's South Limb.

Point first touched by the Moon 82° 9′ from the vertex.
At Ap. O, Moon South, 2' 10.26".

Town of MILLEDGEVILLE, in the

Mean Time at
Nashville.

At nearest approach 2' 10.21".

County of Baldwin, and Seat of Government of the State of Georgia. Latitude 33° 7′ N. Longitude in Degrees 83 20 W.

Latitude Reduced 32° 56′ 31′′ N.
Longitude in Time 5h. 33m. 20s. W.

Beginning of the Eclipse 10 24 17.8 M. 10 24 34.2 M.

Digits eclipsed 11° 39′ 8′′ on Sun's North Limb.

Point first touched 79° 27' from the vertex.

At Ap. O, Moon North, 37.76". At nearest approach 37.72".

Town of LEXINGTON, in the County of Fayette, and State of Kentucky.

Digits eclipsed 10° 53′ 58′′ on Sun's South Limb.

Point first touched 88° 11' from the vertex.

Mean Time at
Lexington.

At Ap. ♂, Moon South, 2′ 38.39". At nearest approach 2′ 38.34".

City of CINCINNATI, in the County of Hamilton, and State of Ohio.

Digits eclipsed 10° 40′ 59′′ on Sun's South Limb.

Point first touched 90° 1' from the vertex.

Mean Time at
Cincinnati.

At Ap. O, Moon South, 3′ 13.15". At nearest approach 3′ 13.09".

City of CHARLESTON, in the District of Charleston, and State of South

Latitude

Carolina.

32° 50' N. Latitude Reduced 32° 39′ 33′′ N. Longitude in Degrees 79 48 W. Longitude in Time 5h. 19m. 12s. W.

Digits eclipsed 11° 9′ 49′′ on Sun's North Limb.

Point first touched 82° 55' from the vertex.

At Ap. O, Moon North, 1' 56.99". At nearest approach 1′ 56.77".

City of RALEIGH, in the County of Wake, the Capital of the State of North Carolina.

Digits eclipsed 11° 44' 5" on Sun's North Limb.

Point first touched 89° 40' from the vertex.

At Ap. o, Moon North, 23.90". At nearest approach 23.86".
Difference of S. D. (not corrected) 20.50"

(corrected) 19.00".

The Eclipse at Raleigh will be very nearly annular; the path of the contact of the northern limbs passing about 8 miles N. W. of this city.