THE COMING COMET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9671, 20 December 1909, Page 4

THE COMING COMET.

A cablegram last week stated that Halley's comet was exhibiting notable fluctuations in brightness. It was of the tenth magnitude in November, and a fortnight later of the -12 th magnitude. As Halley's comet approaches nearer and nearer to its perihelion—that point of its orbit in which it touches its minimum distance from the sun -the principal; observatories of the world are naturally concentrating their attention on it. When Professor Wolf, of Koenigstuhl Observatory, Heidelberg, observed it early on Sunday raining, September 12th, it was declared ftoibe"ofM half a magnitude fainter than that predicted by Professor Holetschek, of Vienna, who has devoted particular .attention to.the subject of cometary brightness. It is calculated that the brightest phase of its current cycle will be reached early in June next, when its distance from the earth will be about twenty million miles. The comet was last seen in May, 1536 when it was moving swiftly away from the sun, and in 1872 it reached its aphelion, or furthest distance from that luminary. The maximum brilliance of the 1835 apparition Was not nearly so great as on some previous occasions, but was still easily visible to the naked eye. Stars of the sixth magnitude, it may be stated, are scarcely visible to the casual observer without an instrument Whether comets continuously lose lustre is one of the many interesting points which the present appearance of the great comet may materially help to elucidate.