The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1843-03-11
(For Tie Whig.)
The Comet,

| The visit of the Comet whose tail has been
| seen for two evenings past in the western sky,
| had not TO my ledge been iorctod, but this
| opportunity will lie seized with caSerness by As
| troLoIncrs in order to determine the elements Of
its orbit; this determination is effected by observ
| ing its Right Ascension and Dcclination upon
three successive days these quantities being trans
| formed into Longtudes and Latitudcs, give, to-
gGther with the Suns Longitude, and the dis
tances of the Earth fion the SIN at the first and
| third observations by difficult mathematical
! process, and b. successive approximations, the
elements upon the parabo!ic hypothesis; which
! being compared with the same quantities derived
| from observations upon comets by former Astro-
nomers, prove if found alike their identity; and
the difference of the perihelion passages gives
the period Of revolutions; the calculation upon
! the elliptic hypothesis allowing foI the purturba-
tons of the planets is problem of far greater
difficulty sufficient formerly TO occupy tic Ma
| tEcmatician many months Of unccasing labour,
but the length of the calculation has been much
decreased, and the facility of computation made
much greater by the efforts Of modern analysts
he paths in which most. vi these bodies move are
very eccentric el!ipscs so that the portion WISH
bic TO us does not sensibly differ from a parabo-
Ia, which may serve to explain the difficulty of
determining the orbit from single set Of obscr-
| Vatlons.
The point Of the horizon cut nv the tail Of the
Comet at O'Clock ?. Nj. Tuesday March I ls43
ri.i ~ - ~ ., va N'"o
49, -. >I :" t''c ''''i' '''e
UaLa,,,,,,,. arI I' .'s S"'i, oI H..
in,, ~; r la, Inv why" 'iI'u l'a'
~ roi;S =; ;, '', 90, go "ir M w, P''.,t y,
',.. he,.Ic, 'uuo 'f' ne 'a'i i.seii
u,,t,, rn,rho'r ,'ist; ',, , "'t1 ~ hs
."J "oo"' ~ "Vo'. NV no''
would believe have been extended TO 500 or
700; how much was beneath cannot he told. Int
perhaps 100 or $50 go that in The absence of the
moon the tail may be expected 70 reach 500 in
lcugth, an extent which If the Comet be as far
distant from us as the sun, would not he ,neasur-
ed by less than so 900 900 miles; the tail ofthis
comet does not appear to be composed of matter
so attonuated as that which is said to belong zen
orally to these bodies, and presents a whittier ap-
pcarancc than flaly's did in 1895; However this
| may be, the matter of which both the tail and
| nucleus Of most comets are composcd is of ey-
IRENE tenuity, "Sir w. Herschel saw n st,r of
the 9Th magnitude through the ccni,eoCthe comet
Of 1895; Prof Strive saw one of the eleventh
through that of Encke; and Sir John Ucrschel
saw on the evening Of the Esd Sep 1884 a
,rhole cluster of stars of the srtsenth mapnitude
almost through the very centre OF Biela 8 come :"
the light of which could not have PASSED through
less than so 600 miles of the matter of the comet
1t has been computed that if the mass of the
comet Of 170 had been l-5OO0th OF the mass orthe
Earth, the length of our year would have been
altered three seconds but no such effect vas pro
duced. A comet passed in 1873 amonr the
satellites of Jupiter without producing any pcr-
ceptble arrangement, though very small chanpe
would have been discovered; all which may con-
vince us cfthe extreme rarity of the matter cf
which comets are COMPOSED
whose elements hoiro ,oor,,. %pp'''1'';
some Astrn,,o,rr,. n, , d., 'oin.tc"t' ~.
and 1886 TO he tho s,,nn md haI ,,,,;a.',
w,,h d;tlidanco ia, :, ';h, 'i"u 'oiJ'NluIe'
o. '94a "Hl TINS sufposion is at best very doubt
at his dov weIcS co ui'iui, IN aeII,ng
which has before pppenred. indand srcn", Gr
three, iiallye's Enckc' and Bisla's, we are very
much IN tie dl'k; the paths Of the comets just
cnrncy Nv, , , "Ug ae.et'nsa WIN great ac
and with regard to Them The anca ge of cer,'n
~ can be usel. lIalley's comet was predicted
W Tie distinguished man whose name it bears, to
cd tpL IL , ~ ,"'' aip ,"ouS, As'IchomeiS LOOK
came yerv nearly ~ ,bo ,nnoi,',,d "V ,o ~. II
bodencd by this Success the calculations for its
return return III 1885 were undertaken by Pontecoulan,,
,a''G' sea an" LnDDocA' ana us permission pas
culrence took placo on the 10Th and h"i t fp TN
underestimate mass Of Jupiter, would have
been determined within 81 xhouIs its period is a
GSuI 10 years ana 1t VIII next be seen IN 1911
planetary system ito ne2,o M' .v seS o our
mean distance from the sun Ell 900 900 niles.
its last appearance in May 1912, lis next in Sep
$50 ron calculation concerning, and ohsorVa-
tured the existence Of ssisnr Ian' f I
ought at least to wait until Mercury, mass is
determined with some certainty before we fully
assent To Sach considerations
Bea's Court has a period Of six wears
nine months, its Lac, a,pearance was in
August 1889, and its next will be in Nav
1916; this Comet i, was, which created
and CONSERVATION in 1889; i, was assert