Charles P. Howard and Charles S. Hastings observed a total eclipse of the sun in Burgos, Spain

1. Howard and Hastings were part of a “large gathering of astronomers,” including government and private astronomers from Spain, England, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Germany, among other nations.
2. Curtis H. Veeder was also there, and he “took a squint at the grand astronomic display through a pair of high-power opera glasses.”
3. Additionally, there was a large crowd of spectators.
4. The Spanish military provided a cavalry guard, and the guard protected the astronomers from any interference from the onlookers.

According to the Courant, “[n]o scientist has yet determined what the corona consists of, for it only presents under ordinary conditions the appearance of an atmospheric mist.  Now that it has been found by Messrs. Howard and Hastings to possess a filamentous character, like a thread, consisting of threads or filaments, scientists will probably make further investigations into the composition of the corona or its component parts.”

Although the Courant believed that Howard and Hastings’s “great discovery” would “create much interest in scientific circles,” there was some skepticism about whether the observation could be independently verified, especially as it was known already that other observers had seen “only the usual halo appearance of the corona”:

• “Mr. Howard and Professor Hastings were the only persons of the crowd of scientific observers who saw the filamentous character of the corona, for they alone used telescopes, the other scientists making their observations by photography.”
• Howard told a Courant reporter that “he doubted that [the photographs] would show the remarkable phenomenon that he and Professor Hastings observed.”
• “The naked eye, through the magnifying powers of the telescope, can observe features in astronomy which the camera fails to produce.”
• “The important feature of time exposure comes into play in such matters, and although the camera makes a permanent impression of that which it sees, the human eye has greater powers of observation.”

1. Charles Howard observed the “filamentous character” of the corona while observing a total eclipse of the sun in Winton, NC, on May 28, 1900.
2. Howard and Hastings left for Europe aboard the Zeeland on July 29, 1905.
3. After arriving in France, Howard and Hastings spent two weeks touring northeastern France.

1. The day began with rain showers and then remained overcast until five minutes before the eclipse.
2. Howard and Hastings had their telescopes adjusted.
3. The sun came out just before totality was reached, at about 1:00 PM local time.
4. The sky remained clear during totality, for three minutes and forty seconds: “The weather conditions were absolutely perfect when the astronomers made their observations of the eclipse, even the atmospheric conditions being just right and the light of the best character.”

1. Following the eclipse, Howard and Hastings will spend three weeks in southeastern France touring Gothic cathedrals and churches.
2. Howard and Hastings will depart from Cherbourg aboard the New York.
3. They will arrive home on September 30, 1905.
4. A Courant reporter will interview Howard on October 1, 1905.

“Professor Hastings is a Hartford man, a son of the late Dr. Panet M. Hastings, and is a graduate of the Hartford Public High School.”

1. “Threads like horses’ tails have been observed jutting out from the corona before, but so far as recorded it has never been observed by the human eye or recorded by any photograph that the entire corona was composed of filamentous material.”
2. “Except for the stone being so soft, it is doubtful that some of the finest specimens of church architecture in France would have been built: the cost of working the harder material would have been prohibitory.”

Charles S. Hastings was a professor at Yale University.

Unattributed.  “Sun’s corona is of filamentous form,” Hartford Courant, October 5, 1905, page 5.