Suggested Wireless Observations during the Solar Eclipse of August 31, 1932

AT a recent Geophysical Discussion at the Royal Astronomical Society (an account of which has been published in the March issue of the Observatory) the possibility of deriving information concerning the nature of the solar radiation responsible for upper-atmospheric ionisation by means of wireless observations made during a solar eclipse was discussed by us. It is known that the agents principally responsible for the ionisation in both of the atmospheric ionised layers travel rectilinearly, so that both ultraviolet light and swiftly moving neutral particles may be considered as possible causes. Because of the difference in velocity with which these two types of radiation travel, it turns out that there are important differences in the incidence in time and place for what may be called the 'optical eclipse' and the 'corpuscular eclipse', when the moon cuts off the solar stream from the earth.