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SOUND PICTURES IN THE SOLUTION OF SOLAR ECLIPSE
PROBLEMS*
F. P. BRACKET"!**
Summary. — The application of sound picture technic toward the solution of solar eclipse problems is described. Motion pictures of the shadow spot cast upon the earth by the moon during an eclipse are taken simultaneously with photographic records of time signals broadcast by radio. By coordinating the information contained in these photographic records of the shadow spot, the time signals, and identification marks on the earth, sufficient information is available for solving various astronomical problems such as determining with greater accuracy the distance of the moon from the earth, the relative positions of earth, moon, and sun, and to permit more accurate computation and prediction of eclipses. A method is also described of making a qualitative study of the variation of light intensity at points in the path of the shadow.
In all the strange and beautiful phenomena of nature, I suppose there is nothing as thrilling and spectacular as a total eclipse of the sun; and yet, strange to say, very few really successful motion pictures of a solar eclipse have been made.
This is probably due to the fact that motion picture men and astronomers did not cooperate in the effort until within the last two or three years. Several attempts to obtain such pictures failed because the cameraman did not follow the counsel of astronomers in meeting conditions entirely different from those with which they were acquainted. On the other hand, astronomers, with all their experience in photographing celestial objects of all sorts, could not make a motion picture of a solar eclipse without the assistance of experienced motion picture men and their instruments.
In 1923, astronomers flocked to California to observe a solar eclipse. In organizing an expedition from Pomona College, we conceived the idea of taking motion pictures which would furnish a complete graphic record of the eclipse for scientific study, and at the same time be of popular and commercial value as a motion picture. A scenario was written which included all the dramatic features incident to the
* Presented at the Spring, 1931, Meeting, at Hollywood, Calif. ** Pomona College, Claremont, Calif.
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