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Re: Some more inconsistencies

From: <jcrovisier~at~free.fr>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:18:16 +0200
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

I wish to correct my preceding message. There is no error for the date(s)
of the 1896 solar eclipse. This eclipse is referred to in the litterature
either as the 8 August or the 9 August 1896 eclipse. The reason is the
convention used by astronomers to count time and dates at that epoch. The
"mean time" is counted from, and the change of date occurs at NOON, not at
MIDNIGHT. With this convention, the eclipse occurred in Japan (where many
observations were done) on 9 August, local date, whereas the date at Paris
or Greenwich, used for the ephemeris, was then still 8 August. This may be
quite confusing, even to astronomers nowadays.

Jacques Crovisier

>
> The 1896 eclipse indeed occurred on 8 August, not on 9 August as written in
> "The Fur Country". (But Camille Flammarion also specified "9 August" for
> the same eclipse in his "Astronomy Populaire".) As specified by Jules
> Verne, the totality zone encompassed North Scandinavia and Siberia, but not
> North America (thus not in the same place). (I checked with the 1896 issue
> of "Connaissance des Temps")
>
> Jacques Crovisier
>
>
Received on Fri 16 Jun 2006 - 17:18:35 IDT

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