Halley's Comet.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1910, Page 4

Halley's Comet.

AN INTERESTING RETROSPEC'

(By Hy. B. France.)

Edmund Halley, whose name has been given to the comet at present visible, was born .in, London in l(J5(j seven years after Charles I. had boe-n beheaded. When Halley was lour years of age, England tired of the Puritan and the Commonwealth returned to a monarchy under Charles 11. Halley was .the greatest astronomer of his time, nuicl considering the opportunities of that age, one of the greatest that ever lived. At tlie ago of twenty ho went to the Island of St. Helena to observe and catalogue the southern stars so familiar to us. Sir Isaac Newton was a contemporary of Halley's, and it is said that lie defrayed the cost of -printing Newton's work on gravitation. Halley wrote a book on comets, in his researches on the motion of which ho computed tho orbits of 24. He noticed one that seemed to return after •an interval of about 75 years, and lie found that the record of bright ooniets in the years 1456, 1380, and 1305 gave colour to the theory. Tho comet appeared in 1082 a.nd From".a calculation of its orbit, and the influence of the larger planets Halley predicted its return about the end of 1758. He did not live to see his prediction fulfilled, but tho comet passed round tho sun in March, 1759. The comet again returned in 1835, and now it is again running up to time-table dates. Halley's comet has a. romantic history; at each reappearance it shines down upon an altered world, most who saw it oil its previous visit dead a,nd gone; new eyes gaze upon it, new interests, new wars, new polities—change everywhere. Its first certain visit recorded was in 87 8.C., although Chinese records point_to its appearance as far back as 467 13.When the comet -appeared in 87 8.C., civil war was raging in Rome which was blockaded by Marius, who entered victoriously. Its return in 11-12 B.C. just preceded the death of Agrippa. Its appearance in A.D. 6(5 caused great terror among the Jews as it hirng over the doomed city of Jerusalem, before its destruction by Titus. It is probable that this time the comet was hv fit- PoUi'

seen oy at. reter, wlio suffered martyrdom in A.D. 67. The comet's return in A.D. 141 saw 'the Romans in possession of Britain, and in constant warfare with the Scots. There are Chinese records of the comet h appearance in A.D. 218, 295 and 373. The next return of the cMriat was in the year 451, the year of the defeat of Attila, the Emperor of the Huns, by the Romans at Chalons in France. This battle is considered to have settled the future history of Western Europe. About the timo of its next appearance (in 530), London was founded. The comet appeared in the years CB4, 760, 837, and 989. In 1006 it played its part in one of the most important events of English history. It appeared in great brilliancy just before William and Harold fought the Battle of Hastings, an<l it was supposed to herald William's victory. It is described as being equal in size to the full moon with a tail of wonderful length. It appeared again in 11-15, during the reign of King Stephen, and was very brilliant, being visible for a long time. The interval between its appearance in 1222 and 1301 is the longest on record (79 years two months), the round now finished is the shortest (74 years 5 J months). The comet's return of 1378 was recorded both in Europe and China, ft appeared in great brilliancy in 1456, and shone down in England upon the battlefields of the Wars of tho Roses. The people were panicstricken, and anticipated the direst results from this visit. During its return in 1531 the Reformation was in full swing in Germany, under the leadership of Martin Luther. At this time the Turks threatened to overrun Europe. Before it came again, William Shakespeare was born; he was 43 when the comet came in 1607, and had written most of his plays. He had just finished "Macbeth." and was writing "Ti--111011 of Athens." 1682, was Hnlley's year. The year of tho comet's next visit, 1759, was memorable for the success of the British arms in various parts of the world; our hold on Canada, and India was assured. Tt was not a very brilliant object during its visit in 1835. The'comet is at present travelling round the sun in the opposite direction to the path of the earth. The comet lias the inside track, and they will pass each other on May 18th, when the comet will pass across the sun's disc and as the tail is always turned away from the sun we will be able to lookthrough the comet from end to end. Too much is always made of the great speed at which the comet is rushingg through space: it is merely a. question of comparison, for the intrinsic speed of the heavenly bodies is very slow. To give a local illustration of my meaning: If Herrnia—Mr Rod McDonald's racehr, rse--while_ revolving in her orbit at last Feilding races, had only moved at the rate of the length of her tail every 24 hours sha would not have been considered a fast mare, or to have been rushing through space; yet the comet is doing considerably less than the length of its onvn tail per day in its track round the sun! To further illustrate this, we will construct an imaginary model of the Solar System in Levin. I imagine a glove Bft Sin in diameter, 'to represent the sun. placed on the lamp post opposite the Post Office. A model of the earth on the same scale would be the size of a pingpong ball, with the mcon the size of a pea revolving round it at a distance of 2ft. Gin. Its distance to scale from the "sun" would he as far down Oxford .street as Mr Holdawav's coachbuilder's shop. We will follow this model earth in its revolution round the sun. Its orbit would cross Bath street diagonally at the end of Chamlverlain street, pass the okl site of Mr McIntyre's residence, cross a corner of the_ Recreation Ground, and after taking about four days to cross . Queen street, pass Abraham and William's office three months after it had left Holdaway's shop. Tho ?omet in this model would be fairly represented by a hand full of lumin- - ms meteoric dust and the tail by . the ray from a bull's-eye lantern ieen on a foggy night. Taking Ox!ord street .'is the major axis of it® > >r.hit, the comet would have crossed •he Kawiu road north last August, ind when it was first discovered on i photographic star plaite on Septem>er 12, it would be passing through Vlr Kingdom's property. It would

he tlie end of November before it passed behind 'Mr Blenkhorn's residence, King's Drive. Early in December, it would cross Weraroa road diagonally in front of Mr Young's residence, and take eight days to cross. On January 22 it would be between Mr Phillips' and Mr P. Arcus' residences. The whole of February would be taken in crossing Abraham and Williams' five acres from comer to corner. The early part of March would be spent crossing the junction of Salisbury and Queen streets: then a. curved course through Hudson and Marriott's salevards, across Chamberlain street, and then its perihelion passage of the sun on April 20 across Oxford street, near Bradltey's stables. I have taken these positions out to scale on a borough ma.p from a sketch in the "Scientific News." I

For ages comets have been the object of superstitious .terror. The last one to cause widespread alarm appeared in England in IGBO. People thought the last day \Vas at 'hand, and numbers made over their property to the churcli. The Emperor Charles V., was so influenced by the comfit of looG that .he abdicated, and retired to a monastery. Then Knox believed them to be tokens of the wrath of Heaven. Luther said they were the work of the devil, and called them harlot stars. Queen Elizabeth, in 1580, issued an order of prayers to avert God's wrath, and referred to comets, eclipses, and heavy falls of snow as evidences of His great displeasure. The full solution of the nature of comets and their place in. the solar system has yet to be found. Spectrum analysis show them to be of the same materials as the rest of the universe.