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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1200, 14 November 1882, Page 2

It will be remembered that early in 1880 a very large comet appeared in the southwestern sky. In New Zealand this visitor presented the appearance of a thin, faintly luminous streak extending from the horizon half way to the zenith. Mr Proctor, the eminent astronomer, who was in the colonies at the time of this comet’s appearance, stated that it was the comet of 1843 and that its path would lead it very close to the sun. From recent calculations it is now conjectured that the present comet is identical with the comet of 1843 and 1880. This is Mr Proctor’s “ menacing” comet, which he supposed would return at briefer and briefer intervals until at last it would fall into the sun. A consequence of this would be, thought the astronomer, the annihilation of all lire on the earth owing to the increase of the sun’s heat through the absorption of the great comet. If the comets of 1843, 1880, and 1882 be really identical, then one portion of Mr Proctor's prediction has been fulfilled, for the interval of 37 years between 1843 and 1880 is greatly reduced in the term between 1880 and 1882. It is considered probable that the comet m. '• rturn in about a year’s time. With regain uo the “menacing” attitude of the comet to life on the earth, it may be noted that Mr Proctor has thought fit to considerably modify his sensational prediction. In a recent lecture, or paper, he does not estimate that any serious effect will be visible on the earth’s surface even if the comet should fall into the sun.