HALLEY'S COMET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 10

HALLEY'S COMET.

Sir,—lily attention lias been drawn to your issue of the 25th ultimo (which appeared durinij my absence from tho district), wherein it. is stated that Mr. , Ward, the director of our local Observatory, considered I had "confused the time of tho transit of the nucleus over tho sun's disc'with that of the entry of the earth into its tail, as given by tho Berlin aslronouiera." H may be that error crept into tho cablo message. But the wording of it, as it appeared, could leave no doubt "us to may correct interpretation of it. Astronomers had. Strange to say, predicted that the tail would pass us on tho evening; of tho ' 19th. But none, so far as-; I know, made' the palpably'absurd'-'"assertion that it would take one hour only m passing us. Through .your columns, L ventured to predict that _we should not enter the densest portion of the tail till tho 21st. That this prediction was fairly near the mark "was proved by the fact .that' the . tail: still shone brightly in the eastern ak.y before sunrise oil the mornings of tlie 20th and 21st, and faintly on the-.-morning of the 22nd. Unfortunately, i had not taken observations with sufficient accuracy to ohebk fhc time* of. the expected transit." But theseobservations, together witli subsequent ones, convince me that there was no transit at ell on the Jlay 19; that the comet, influenced probably by neighbouring plant-la, i cached -Ha nude earlier than was expected, and that some timo on the 19th the . nucleus ' passed clear of the sun, to the south of it. Ido think, however, : tbat.,-;;w.e passed through the outskirts of'its tail,'and that this occurrence was responsible, ..to some extent at-least, for'the stormy, mild weather .that prevailed'afterwards. It will he interesting to learn whether tho same winds were fairly general throughout the world. The peculiar apoearance of the sun, as noticed by residents of Canterbury, just after its rising on the 19th was probably due to some 1 extraordinary local refraction. Such illusions, at rising and setting of the sun and moon, are not uncommon. For instance,!,'and others, have seen the full moon rise and appear to stand for a few seconds upon the horizon, like a hu£o copper mushroom.—l am, etc. FEEDK. E. FIELD. Aramoho, Juno 8, 1910.