New Zealand Astronomy and the 9 September 1885 Total Solar Eclipse

Abstract

The second half of the nineteenth century saw a blossoming of interest in solar eclipses as astronomers tried to establish whether the corona was a solar, lunar or terrestrial phenomenon, and as they investigated the nature of the corona, the chromosphere and prominences. Critical in these investigations were astronomy’s newest allies: photography and spectroscopy. Photography was used with great effectiveness throughout the half century, but spectroscopy was first applied during the ‘Indian eclipse’ of 1868. Thereafter, almost every total solar eclipse was subjected to scrutiny, the intensity of which depended upon the duration of the eclipse and the location of its path of totality. The first total solar eclipse visible from New Zealand following European settlement occurred on 9 September 1885, and attracted the attention of professional scientists and amateur astronomers. The centre of the path of totality extended from West Wanganui Inlet on the far northern reaches of the west coast of the South Island to Castle Point on the Wairarapa Coast, and a total eclipse was visible from population centres like Collingwood, Nelson, Picton, Wellington, Otaki, Palmerston North, Wanganui and throughout the Wairarapa. In this chapter we examine this eclipse, in the context of New Zealand astronomy and the international development of solar physics.