PLAINLY VISIBLE AT RANFURLY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26641, 11 December 1947, Page 6

PLAINLY VISIBLE AT RANFURLY

STRONG BEAM OF LIGHT Special to the Daily Times RANFURLY, Dec. 10. A comet was seen low down in the south-west sky at Ranfurly to-night, travelling towards the horizon. It was plainly visible for some time from about 10 o'clock. Larger, but not appreciably brighter, than an ordinary star, the comet emitted a strong beam of light from its tail, the reflection resembling the rays produced by a car’s lights at a distance. A Press Association message states that residents of the Motupiko Valley, about 40 miles from Nelson, saw a comet on Tuesday night. Mr John Hole said the comet was first noticed about 9 o’clock in the west-south-west sky. It was travelling towards the west and was near the horizon, with its" tail turned to the left. It had a long tail equal to the length of a finger and a-half held at arm’s length, and as wide as a finger. The comet was of an orange tint, with bright cores, and the tail was also orange, and although not vivid, was clearly defined. A cablegram from Sydney states that a new comet blazing over the Southern hemisphere on Tuesday night was the brightest since Halley’s comet of 1910. Observers in Victoria. Canberra. New South Wales, Queensland and West Australia saw the comet in the western sky near the planet Venus. It glowed brilliantly with a reddishyellow light and had an incandescent tail which extended vertically upwards.