The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1915. THE COURSE OF COMETS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 October 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1915. THE COURSE OF COMETS.

In our issue of yesterday we had some references to comets, uio article con eluding with a statement oi our intent to set out an odd theory that has come to us concerning the peculiar motion ul these strange visitants. It is with (lie utmost diffidence Unit we venture an opinion, lor our knowledge oi astronomy is based merely upon cursory reading of the works of Proctor and JJurgel, bached by a little original con templation. And inasmuch as in astronomy, exactly as in politics, tilie one wiio holds tho floor has best opportunity to make himself heard ;—or. tu change the simile, every clog is entitled to bay the moon until a lion meets him—so we raise our voice. The ordinarily accepted theory about comets is that they originate outside our solar system, and that alter coursing through the immensities of space they are arrested by our sun and set travelling on their immense orbits, which nvariably run in a contrary direction to those taken around the sun by tho earfcii and the oOier planets of our system. .So far as we have read, no explanation has appeared as to why this contrary motion characterises a!i coin ets. To our mind, a feasible exp'una tiou seems harder to arrive at it the theory be accepted that comets come from 'jufcside the solar sv-r-.n and are a-ritcted by the sun. Thy/ are of so nebulous a head and so attenuated a tail that the solid sun's atlracti'-n "f gravi.ation surely •would ii.duce tliev to alter their direction a id to sl-riU-into remoter stellar span's long ire they reached the sun's perpetual sphere of influence. Our own theory is that the comets of our solar system originated with our own sun, and that their contrary direction by comparison with the planets was primarily due to their lesser specific density. The planets themselves may lfave had a totally different origin; if our theory as 10 comets be accepted they utmost necessarily must have had such origin. But leaving that aspect aside, it Follmvs naturally enough that so Tight and gaseous an entity as a comet, when hurled into space from our flaming, whirling, stupendous sun, surely would he left behind, and there" fall into a._ vacuuni wherein the comet's comparatively light weight would cause it to swing into the immensities of stellar space in an opposite direction to that taken by our own sun. Given one such 'Body to dominate others of like nature, the distinctive direction pursued by comets may be well understood, inasmuch as each succeeding comet would meet like conditions; and. further would he attracted by the magnetic affinity of its predecessors.