The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-08-11 00:00:00

HALLEY'S COMET.

. • -
The immediately expected reappearance of this heavenly
visitor, which, after an abiente of about 751 years, Will show
itself only for a few months to us terrestrials, being much the
subject of conversation, we have taken the following para-
graphs from the July number of the Edinburgh New Philoso-
phical
Journal which, we trust, will be acceptable to. our
readers. Theyform part of an article on the subject of comets,
by M. Arago, one of the most distinguished, of. the French,
astronomers. On referring to a celestial globe, we find that
the star in the constellation Taurus, near which, according to
M. Arago's _calculations, the comet should pass on Thursday
se'nnight, the 20th instant, is a star of the fourth. magnitude,
almost due, south of the Pleiades, and forming nearly an equi..
lateral, triangle with the Pleiades and Aldebaran, a, star of the;
61st magnitude, and the left eye ofthe Bull.*
Halley's Comet, on its last visit, was discovered on_ the. night
of the 26th December, 1758, by a Prussian farmer, who culti-
vOted astronomy as Well as agriculture. If its arrival this time
should be discovered by any of the. radical philosophers .of the.
Liverpool, n kr' Institute, we, shall, allow,, in the, viotds of
Little Drivel," that the laying of its.foundatiqn stone was an
occasion "important to generations yet unborn;" but not other-
wise. 'Believers in sideral influences-will at once account for
the extraordinary be/tunings of the radical spouters at •yester.
•
' day's. "flare up," Clayton-square, by the near approach of
the "illustrious stranger" to the constellation '" TetiaLs." •
" We.do not yet know with certainty if comets are of them-
selves luminous, or if they borrow from, the sun all the light
with which they shine. The investigation of their phases
seemed to be the only means of resolving the question, but
hitherto it has entirely failed. Comparative measures of the
intensiti? oflight, photometric measures, Ma% lead us to the,
result' in a manner not less incontestible. This kind of obser-
vation will doubtless excite the attention,of astronomers during,
the actual appearance of Halley's comet. * The second edition
of.the anattuire of 1832 prover, to amateurs of the science that
they even, with very feeble instruments, may. usefully,assist in
this curious research.
f" In the yetity 1305, Halley's corntifhad eXtrAirdihaiV
145 b it dragged after it .a tail, which embra"ced. two-
thirds of the space between the horizon and the zenith; in 1682:
tho Ugh not •ably less brilliant than in 1305 or 1456, it was
classed among the, brilliant comets, and its tail was still 30';
in 170 its appearance would certainly have occupied the atten-
tion of none but astronomers, if it liad not been the first comet
announced a long time previously. These, facts ,seem to prove
that comets are diminishing in brightness, and we might be
tempted to search for the physical cause in the matter which,
near the perihelion, separates itself from•the.nebulosity to form-
the tail, and which the comet seems to des.seminate in space.
“M.'olbers, certainly one of the most competent judges faa
subject of this kind, does not regard the gradual-enfeenlingef i
.comets as proved; he believes that the diminution observed n
that of Halley, from 1305 to 1456, from 1456 to ,1682, and from
1682 to 1759'• is only apparent; and that, it •can.be explaineu bY
the very peculiar relative petition of the sun, the comet„and
the earth;' and, finally,. he cites, in suppoit of his opinion, the
appearance of 1607, intermediate between ,those whose dates .1
have mentioned, adducing
.which fur the positions analugous to
those of 1759, 'the comet, according to Kelper, presented no-
thing remarkable in its intensity. In ,thia state.of the.problem
every one ninst.perceive the interest which must be attached to
the circumstances attending the appearanoc of the comet next
.govember.
"It will be,. on August 20,. 1835, near Taurus; August
28, betwenr'detnitii; September '2l, in the Coachman ; Oc-
tober 3, iu the LYnx ; !OcCober .6,' in the Great Bear; Octo-
toiler .11, the, same; October 12, iu Aretophylax; October.l3,
in the Crown; (Metier 15, between Hercules and Serpeuta-
tins ; Ocfober 19, in Opitincus; October 31, the.same; Novem-
ber 16, near 003ipFus;
December ,26, in the, Scorpion, near
A ritaies:

It would be difficult -to say. with certainty on what day,the
comet will be visible,. .The, state of the heaven, the power of
-the instruments, the goodness of the power of sight of the ob-
server, united to physical causes, already mentioned, variations
of intensity, render all attempts to solve. the problem entirely
illusory: AI: Others believes that at its .maximum of lustre,
the expected comet, far from surpassing, as hati been pretended
that of 1811„ will
.not equal the third comet of 1845, which the
public allowed to pass without paying any attention to it.
"It is towards the middle of October that the comet of Hal-
ley, during it next appearance, will be nearest the earth.,
We may add-that its distance.will never be less thaneight.mil-
lions oneakties, of twenty4ive to the 'degree. Thus those who
have not been
,entirely reassured by the ntimerous , pleadings
published tlately in favour .of.coinets, cannot, in the.priment
case, have ihyvia.tiSible eauke of uneaSitiesi."

•.This will direct every one who inu. kL.spy:glass where to
look for