Research Notes


Map Group WRIGHT 1737

Wright 1737
These notes are made from the Map of the Passage of the Annular Penumbra of an Eclipse 18 February 1737, by Thomas Wright, Durham, published by John Senex, London, 1737. The map studied is in the Map Room, British Library, call number BL:Maps 177.d.1(19).
The map size is: wxh, sheet = 52x41cm; wxh, map = 506x379mm.
NB remember that these notes are relevant to Hampshire.
 
MAP FEATURES
ECLIPSE PATH

MAP FEATURES
title cartouche    
dedication    
map maker    
publisher    

Printed in a plain rectangular cartouche upper left is:-
The Passage of the ANNULAR PENUMBRA over SCOTLAND &c. In the Central Eclipse of the Sun on the 18th. day of February 1736/7 in the Afternoon.
Humbly Inscrib'd to the President, Council and Fellows of the ROYAL SOCIETY By Thomas Wright of the City of Durham.
NB Mr. Wright has lately publishd by Subscription the Perpetual Pannauticon or Universal Mariners Magazine being a Mathematical Instrument 18 inches Diamr. describing the Lunar Theory and motion of the Tides. To be had of the Author at Mr. senex's.
Printed at the bottom:-
Sold by John Senex at the Globe over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet: who has lately finished and sells a Pair of Globes of 28 Inches Diameter with all the late Observations and Discoveries describ'd; The like nowhere else made. Also those of 17, 12 & 9 Inches Diameter, all with Bayers letters of refference incerted on the Celestial, and the Rhumb lines beautifully delineated on the Terrestryal: And if required the Celestial 17 made so, as to adjust the Intersection of the Equinoctial and Ecliptic, to any time past or to come; a thing never before perform'd. By John Senex F.R.S.
Printed lower left:-
Just Publishd a large Map 7 foot long & 5 foot deep of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland & Ireland, and so much of Germany as includes the Electorate of Hanover, Dutches of Zel, Bremen, Verden, &c. All in the same Scale. In which may be seen the magnitude of the German Dominions, compard with either of those Kingdoms, as also their bearing & distance from Great Britain. price 20 shils. on cloth with roles.

orientation    
compass rose    
up is N    

Printed on the right is a compass rose aligned with the graticule; star points for the cardinal directions, lines for the half cardinal, North marked by a fleur de lys, East by a cross. The map is printed with North at the top of the sheet.

scale line    
scale    

Printed on the right, along the 54d N parallel, is a scale line of
Miles
chequered at 5 mile intervals, labelled in blocks of 20 miles. The 85 miles = 52.8 mm giving a scale 1 to 2590800; the map scale is about:-
1 to 2600000
41 miles to 1 inch

lat and long scales    
lat and long grid    

The map borders have scales of latitude and longitude for a trapezoid projection; chequered at 10 minute intervals, labelled at 1 degree intervals. A graticule is printed over the map at 1 degree intervals. The prime meridian passes through the centre of London. The bottom scale is labelled:-
West Longitude from London
The map includes from about 3d E to 12d W, from 50d to 59d N; the whole of the British Isles excepting Orkney and Shetland, and a corner of the coast of France. Should the figures be needed the scales were measured:-
at 51d N 14d longitude = 432.0 mm
at 58d N 15d longitude = 359.2 mm
7d latitude = 297.0 mm

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ECLIPSE PATH
The path of the eclipse is shown by plotting its central line from approximately 11d 0m W, 53d 15m N to 2d 0m E, 57d 8m N; passing through Killala - labelled Killalore, County Mayo, Ireland and Edinburgh, Scotland. There are no times long the track. A shaded band about 80 miles wide shows the path of totality. Centred over Edinburgh is a darker shaded ellipse showing the shape of the moon's shadow:-
The Oblique Section of the Annular PENUMBRA
54 places on the map have a diagram indicating the degree of eclipse; a dark moon circle over a circle for the sun; the moon's circle is drawn 12.3mm diameter, the sun's 14.4mm. At Edinburgh the two circles are [about] concentric, the sun's corona peeping around the moon. Elsewhere the circles are drawn to show the maximum eclipse for the place; within the shaded band the eclipses are offcentred but total; outside the band they are partial.

Hampshire
None of the partial eclipse diagram is for a place in Hampshire. but we can judge there would have been a, roughly, 80% eclipse, from the diagrams for Dorchester, Marlborough, Isle of Wight, and Guildford.

Disclaimer
Printed right centre is:-
NB It must not be expected that a Construction of this kind can come so near as that of a Calculation; when in the last Eclipse of the Moon, it was Observed to begin even within a minute as Mr. Wright had Calculated it.
 
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