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Science 12 December 1980:
Vol. 210. no. 4475, pp. 1243 - 1245
DOI: 10.1126/science.210.4475.1243
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Articles

Observations of a Probable Change in the Solar Radius Between 1715 and 1979

DAVID W. DUNHAM 1, SABATINO SOFIA 2, ALAN D. FIALA 3, DAVID HERALD 4, and PAUL M. MULLER 5

1 International Occultation Timing Association, Post Office Box 488, Silver Spring, Maryland 20907
2 Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
3 U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C. 20390
4 Post Office Box 254, Woden, ACT 2606 Australia
5 Anglo-American Computers Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne, NE1 1LE England

Solar eclipses were observed from locations near both edges of the paths of totality in England in 1715, in Australia in 1976, and in North America in 1979. Analysis of these observations shows that the solar radius has contracted by 0.34 ± 0.2 arc second in 264 years.

Submitted on November 14, 1979
Revised on June 23, 1980


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Measurement of Solar Radius Changes.
B. J. LABONTE and R. HOWARD (1981)
Science 214, 907-909
   Abstract »    PDF »
Total Eclipses of the Sun.
J. B. Zirker (1980)
Science 210, 1313-1319
   Abstract »    PDF »


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