What to See Today

Today (Sept. 10, 1923), if you happen to live anywhere in the U. S., Canada, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, or northwestern South America, you can see, w. p. (weather permitting), at least part of a total eclipse of the sun. If you are fortunate enough to be within a curvilinear zone about 100 miles wide, which grazes the coast of Southern California and sweeps through the heart of Mexico, you will see the whole face of Old Sol obscured by the moon's shadow for a few brief moments -- a sight which has not been visible in the United States since June 8, 1918. A time-table of the eclipse's visitation to the various cities of the United States (local standard time) is appended: Percentage Time of Disk Maximum Place. Covered. Eclipse. New York 46% 4:38 P. M. Boston 42 4:36 " Buffalo 45 4:31 " Washington 50 4:39 " Chicago 52 3:26 " St. Paul 51 3:15 "; St. Louis 60 3:29 "; Atlanta 64 3:43 " New Orleans 76 3:44 " Denver 71 2:09 " Salt Lake City 77 1:56 " Seattle 74 12:31 " San Francisco 96 12:44 " Los Angeles 99 12:57 " San Diego 100 12:58 " The Yerkes Observatory expedition (TIME, Sept. 3), in charge of Director Edwin B. Frost, is financed by William Wrigley, Jr. (chewing-gum man) with a gift of $5,000, and occupies sites on Santa Catalina Island (directly in the path of totality), which is owned by Mr. Wrigley. Oh a plateau 1,300 feet above sea-level an observatory equipped with elaborate telescopic and photographic apparatus has been erected."; The unique feature of the Yerkes enterprise is its use of moving picture machines for the first time to record an ellipse. The Yerkes Observatory, at Williams Bay, on Lake Geneva, Wis., is the astronomy department of the University of Chicago, and contains the largest refracting telescope in the world, with an object lens of 40 inches. The largest reflecting telescope is at the Mt. Wilson Observatory, Cal. Refractors differ from reflectors in that the light is gathered through a lens at the top of the tube in the former, and in a large mirror at the bottom in the latter. Reflectors are easier and cheaper to construct, but are less convenient to handle, and get out of order more quickly.