HALLEY'S COMET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 38, 25 May 1910, Page 5

HALLEY'S COMET.

CORRECTING THE ASTRONOMERS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchureh, May 24. A fanner of the Ainuri district writes to tin- l.yttelton Times saying that the reason why astronomers missed the transit of Halley's comet was that they wore out in their calculations. About 7.2") ii.in. on I iuirsilav he and others saw a peculiar ray projected from the sun. Five minutes later something appeared in front of the sun, which thickened and blazed with a blinding light, then svttled over ihe su;. in the lorm of a while opaque sha.. . The air grew eold. and there \ re peculiar rainbow lights on the hil... Okato writes-.—Nature's object in sending these •'casual tramps," as eometa are styled, around is not apparent. The tails are ghosts of the sky. " 'This here, 'tis there, 'tis gone," will be found in Hantlet's 1 ghost, and if we passed through the dreaded tail on the 19th no one seems to have known it. Well; goodbye is written on this celestial messenger, and back to outer darkness until 108(1, when it will no doubt return to terrify the next generation. Perhaps they may know by that time the especial mission of comets. Nature is always doing needless' work, we think. The leaves born in spring, perish in autumn, and all the work lias to be done again next year in most countries outside lat. 40 deg. New Zealand is an exception to all rules, as only the fuchsia anA dogweed lose their leaves in autumn."