Vega Visible over the south Pacific ocean on October 22nd was a total eclipse of the sun. The path of the eclipse started on the 22nd on the western side of the international dateline, but when it crossed the Eastern side it was actually the 21st. A temporary observatory was established in Niuafou Island, in the Tonga group, and here were many astronomers from the U.S. and New Zealand, with many cameras, telescopes, and other instruments. Niuafou is commonly called Tin-Can Land, because, once a month, mail is sent to and received from a passing steamer in a sealed tin-can. The location of the little island provided ideal conditions for observations, and forty-one photographs of the sun in the eclipse rewarded the American astronomers. Especially remarkable were the pictures of the sun’s corona, which showed characteristic streamers to the east and west. In addition, special plates in an Einstein camera will be studied to determine the effect of sun on light from a distant star. The bending of a light ray as it passes the sun is one of the test of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The period of the total eclipse was 93.9 seconds. A variation of but two seconds was reported between the actual and the predicted time of the phenomenon. ...
