Science: Backward Eclipse

Early Wednesday morning of this week a total eclipse of the sun began in the Pacific Ocean near the Malay Peninsula. The path of total shadow, 60 to 80 mi. wide, traveled across Borneo, grazed the equator, curved northeast across the Pacific. Off Alaska the eclipse ended the day before it began—at 5:24½ o’clock Tuesday afternoon. By crossing the International Date Line (180th meridian), the shadow path in its race against the sun’s westward motion gained 24 hours of calendar time.