COMET WITH EIGHT TAILS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 407, 16 January 1909, Page 13

COMET WITH EIGHT TAILS.

VISIBLE WITH AN OBDINARY GLASS. Never - wjthiii • the meniory' of living mers (says/ the/ Paris corresponednt of the "Daily News")'■ has any comet' been- seen as fantastic as,E. 03. When Mr, Morehouse discovered it on September l.through tho famous telescope .of.. the. Yorkcs Observatory, ho at once telegraphed tho news to. Europe, adding that his comet; was furnished with a long tail, distinctly visible.' On September 3 the observatories of Marseilles and Besancon picked out the new-comer, but it : only had a small tail, which disappeared two days later, only lo ap-. pear and vanish again. By this time oil : the astronomers of Europe were on the qui vive to' study tho.' novelty, and at llentfon and Juvisy it was photographed persistently under every condition.' ■ It almost looked as if the eomet was awaro of the interest it excited, and wished, to show itself worthy. One fino night it showed l itself with four superb tails, and on tho followiag'evening changed these (Or a fan-shaped arrangement of eight tails. At the end of September- it changed its hoaddress and appeared crowded with an aigrette balanced by a single tail. After various .transformations during the . first half of October the' tail be?an to affect strange habits. First it was rec-i ilinear, and .then took to itself a very brilliant knot in the middle,-followed by a long,; undulating wisp, growing larger its end; This aspect-did.,not last long, and-just at present it generally , shows u single tail of , abnormal length, more than ten times as long as the diameter, of tho moon. For a considerable' -period the _ brillianoy' of tho MorehOuso comet went on increasing, and it was hoped that it mightv finally be visible to the naked eye. This , has not been realised, but an ordinary • glass suffices with whioh to, see this singular body.. : Travelling fast, it has already crossed' a large part of the'heavens, and is now in the constellation of the Eagle.; At; the end of September-'the comet was in proximity to the Polar Star, and it was then calculated to be 105,000,000 miles distant from the earth. It is now putting more space between', us, and within a month or two wul have passed out of our ken. By its caudal transformation, this comet is one. of'the most extraordinary that has ever been ."observed, and, especially outside England, has aroused tho greatest interest in astronomical oircles.