HALLEY S COMET.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 835, 5 May 1910, Page 3

HALLEY S COMET.

Sydney, May 3

Mr John Tebbutt, astronomer of Windsor, estimates that the tail of Halley's comet measures ten million miles. He says very probably the visible part of the tail will extend as far as the earth on the 19th of May, and even if not enveloped we shall have a very narrow escape. He asks observers to record experiences with regard to atmospheric, meteoric, and electrical phenomena on that date.

Writes the Rev. P. W. Fairdough in the Christchurch Press : Halley's comet has never been a first-class spectacle. Even in the famous Bayeux Tapestry, said to be the work of Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, and her maids, the comet Is bobtailed and appears about three times as long as it is broad. As this great work, 214 feet long, and consisting of 72 tableaux, sets forth the claims of William and the perjury of Harold in resisting them, there would be no tendency to diminish the splendour of the messenger of Divine wrath. We may assume, therefore, that our visitor has never been more than a moderate spectacle. It is not size that gives it its fame, but other facts. It is the monument of one of the great triumphs of the intellect of man. Its returns are too rare to permit oi its becoming hackneyed ; and in the past 2000, years it has played a great part in history. It is the monument of the folly and superstition of millions and of the brains of one (Halley in casting its orbit). The one has conquered, and hence you gaze calmly and critically.