Eclipse Observations Planned

The Harvard Observatory will send an expedition to Alabama to observe the total eclipse of the sun which occurs May 28, 1900, to discover whether or not there is an intermercurial planet. A photographic instrument has been made with nine plates arranged in three rows, attached so that a curved field can be obtained. The light of the sky around the sun at the time to the total eclipse will be sufficient to darken these plates appreciably, but not so much but that stars of the eighth magnitude will appear. The existence of a small intermercurial planet is possible and it will probably appear on the plates if it exists. If other astronomers can be induced to make similar observation sin Spain or Algiers, it will be possible to compute the approximate orbit and the distance of the body from the sun.

The Observatory is also preparing to study the newly discovered planet Eros which comes very near the earth this year. On Dec. 26 its distance form the earth will be less than a third of that of the sun from the earth.