Both John and his daughter
Gertrude were members of the
British Astronomical Association. The BAA organised expeditions to observe total solar eclipses, which John and Gertrude went on. The first was to
Vadsø in
Finnmark,
Norway (eclipse date
9 August 1896), which was unsuccessful due to cloudy weather. The second was to
Buxar in India (eclipse date
22 January 1898). Here they succeeded in filming the eclipse, but unfortunately the film has been lost. The Bacons also went on a ballon flight in November 1899 piloted by
Stanley Spencer to observe the
Leonid meteors. The flight took off from
Newbury at 4:00am on Thursday 16 November and drifted westward with the flight ending near
Neath. Very few meteors were observed however. A third eclipse expedition was to
Wadesborough, North Carolina (eclipse date
28 May 1900) and was also successful. == References ==