THE COMET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 6

THE COMET.

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH ITS TAIL. INTERESTING MEASUREMENTS. i • (By Telecrnrjli-Presa Association.) Napier, May 13. Father Allen, of Meeanee Observatory, writes as follows, under to-day's date: — 'Halley's Comet was visible to the naked eyo this morning through 35 degrees of the heavens, and through 18,000,000 miles of its length. The .passing of tho moon from the morning sky allows us now to see the whole of the tail. There can no longer be any doubt that the earth will pass well within the tail of the comet, with at least throe million miles'to spare. Careful measurements from photographs, taken this morning, bqow that the head of the comet is seventy-nine thousand mile's through (fifteen million miles from the head). At tho place the earth will enter on Thursday evening next, the width of the tail is somewhat more than two million miles. The earth will; therefore, spend at least fourteen hours in the journey through the tail." THE COMET AND THE KING'S DEATH. Mr. A. S: Evans, of Pahiatua, writes:— - ' The interesting cables received from different parts of the world, including India and South Africa, respecting the coincidence of the "comet appearance" and tho Royal bereavement induces me to point out how ancient' this belief is. Nearly two thousand- years ago Rome witnessed the tragic death of Caesar. Tho poet Shakespeare; in. hiß "Julius Caesar," act 2, scene 2, where Caesar's wife pleads for more caution when the clouds of mutiny and danger are gathering, makes Calpurnia say:— When beggars die there are no comets ■ seen; ..- > ■ The heavens themselves blase fortii the ■ death of princes. There is tho idea, but; read on t and see how. bravely Caesar speaks of death; ■ . Cowards die many times before their death; The valiant never taste of death but once. As in B.C. 44, the Roman could speak thus, so in A.D. 1910 we see our late beloved T?'"'g "pass over" with sentiments as grave upon his lips. Astronomers perchance may connect Halley's comet of 1910 with Caesar's comet of B.C. 44. To those who are fond of coincidences,' it will be interests ing to note that the present comet appeared at just about the same time of the year,, as the one earlier mentioned by the' poet. In the Manchester • Art Gallery ; there is a picture by Sir E. J. Poynter; depicting the Romans' the night before the death pointing-out to their fellows the omen in the sky. AWE-INSPIRING SPECTACLES. , ASTOUNDING FIGURES. In an article on "Great and Memorable Events" occurring during the.' 100 years ending with 1§76, which was published in an American work entitled "Our First Century," are given many interesting particulars of various . comets of earlier days, but, strange to say, no ,word-appears in the work concerning "Halley's . Comet."., ■ The comet of 1811 was tho finest that; up to the time of its appearance, had adorned tho heavens since the age of Newton. It was noted for its intense brilliancy and luminosity. Its brilliant 'tail,, at its greatest elongation, had -an I extent of 123,000,000 miles by a breadth of 15,000,000; and thus, supposing the nucleus of the comet to have been placed on "the.sun, and the tail in the plane of. tho orbits of the planets, it would have reached' over those, of Mercury, Venus, the Earth," and have bordered on that of Mara. A't its nearest approach to us, tho comet. was -yet distant 141,000,000 miles, so that even.had the tail. pointed to the earth, its extremity would have been 18,000,000 miles away from, its surface. Its appearance; was strikingly ornamental to - the evening sky. The comet of 1843 is regarded as perhaps the most marvellous of the present age,, having been observed' in the day time oven before-it was visible passing very. near, the sun, exhibiting an enormous length of tail ,and arousing an interest in the public mind as universal and deep as it was unprecedented. Professor Loomis, of Yale College, stated in a paper on the comet that it was seen in New England as early as halfpast 7 in the morning, and continued fall after 3 in the afternoon, when the sky became obscured by clouds. The appearance at first, was that of ,a luminous, glo■hular body, with a short train—the whole taken togother being found by measurement about one degree in length, ■'! It' is certain that the comet almost grazed, tho sun; perhaps some portion of its nebulosity may have come into direct collision with it!" The velocity with which the comet whirled round- the eun at tho. instant of peri-, holion was prodigious. This was such as, if continued, would have carried it round the.sun in two hours and a half; in tact, it did go more than half round the sun in this time. Tho nearest approach'of its head to the earth was about 80,000,000 miles. The length,of the tail was 35,000,000 , miles, and its greatest risible length was 108,000,000 miles.,- Stars were easily discernible through the luminous train. The extraordinary brilliancy of tho comet was due to its proximity to the sun. The heat it received must have been, according to Sir John Hcrschel, 47,000 times that received by the earth from the vertical suu. Such' a temperature would have converted into vapour almost every substance on the earth's surface. The comet, for some, days after its perihelion, was red-hot, and. retained, a peculiar fiery appearance. In the equatorial Tegions .the-tail is described as resembling'a stream of fire from a furnace. . In 1847 another remarkable comet, visible to the naked eye, made its appearance in the constellation Andromeda. The distance from tho sun in March was about 3,500,000 ■ miles.

The comet of 1853 was clearly visible to the naked eye', and had a well-defined nucleus and tail. Astronomers failed to identify this comet with any previous visitor. Its brilliant nucleus and train m'ado it very conspicuous—indeed, one of the largest and most beautiful on record. The diameter of the bright nucleus was about equal to that of the earth, its nearest distance from the earth was 68,000,000 miles.

In September, 185S, Donati's comot was for weeks, a wonder. in the skies. Tho nucleus was very brilliant, and tho tail prodigious. The tail had a curve liko a scimitar, but its end was shadowy, faint, tremulous, and uncertain. On October 20 the first of a. series of. extraordinary phenomena manifested itself in therogion contiguous to the nucleus. A crescentshaped outline, obscure and very narrow, was interspersed like a screen between tho nucleus and tho sun; within this, instead of a softly-blended light, indicative of an undistnrlxHl oondition of equilibrium, tho fiery mass was in a state of apparent commotion, as though upheaved by tho action of violent internal force, ai'tcr dark outlines occurred round the nucleus, the rapidity of their formation from time toUime and their ultimate expansion to enormous proportions, constituted a. remarkable feature impossible of explanation. 'It was nearest to tho eartli when 52,000,000 miles distant, and tho tail was 51.000,000 miles long.'

The comet of ISGI appeared suddenly. It was invisible through the telescope on Juno 29, and on July 2 it was visible to the naked oye brighter than a star of first magnitude. The breadth of the head of the nucleus was 150,000 miles, and 1 the length-of the tail 15,000.000 miles. —Melbourne Representative of the "Sunday Times."