Abstract
A SPECIAL publication of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R., which has somewhat belatedly reached Great Britain, deals with the eclipse of September 21, 1941, and contains four papers written before the eclipse. The first, by A. Michailov, gives a detailed calculation of the circumstances of the eclipse in southern Siberia, and includes two charts from which the times of beginning and ending of the partial eclipse and its magnitude can be obtained for any point in the U.S.S.R. The second paper, by the same author, gives computations of the corpuscular eclipse, using four different velocities of particles, namely, 5000, 3000, 1600 and 800 km./sec., and assuming various sizes for the emitting surface of the sun, from a point to the full disk. A chart shows also the lines of totality for the optical ionospheric eclipse, at heights of 100, 150, 220, 300 and 500 km. A paper by B. Fessenkoff contains the plan of campaign as worked out by the Eclipse Commission of the Academy of Sciences, gives a general summing-up of recent experience in eclipse expeditions, and describes fairly fully the technique to be used in the astro-physical observations, which are concerned largely with the corona. Finally, P. Tverskoy discusses the geophysical problems to be investigated: mainly the radio exploration of high atmospheric levels in order to determine the relative importance of corpuscular and ultra-violet radiation there ; secondly, the investigation of the effect on the solar radiation of the various parts of the atmosphere, including its lower layers ; and lastly, an attack on the inverse problem, namely, how the eclipse affects physical conditions in the lower atmosphere. No detailed results have yet reached Great Britain, but a preliminary note (J. Phys. U. S. S. S., 6, 1 ; 1942) gives ground for hope that much of the work planned was in fact carried out successfully.
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Eclipse of the Sun, Sept. 21, 1941, In the U. S. S. R. Nature 152, 658 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152658a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152658a0