The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-05-28
The Considerable Coacussion.
From the Philadelphia Gaze

From the Philadelphia Gazette
Below will be found a communication from Mr.
Sears .. walker, on the recent comet. twill be
seen that Mr. Walker that this body if may
be so termed, came into actual contact with the
on the 9th OF February THIS startling conclu-
son-fOr no other so wonderful in the annals of
astronomical science has, we believe, ever occur
red-is arrived at by calculations whose result can
not be denied. These calculations, occupying the
closest attention during the past two months, have
been all duplicated and IN many parts Implicated
by Messrs. Walker, Kendall, and Downes, and can
not be forced even TO give any other result. The
differences of the result TO be left to each to frame
for himself but OF the fact that the nucleus OF the
comet struck point blank against the sun, there can
be no doubt One inference 49, that the comet re-
bounded This would of course be the case were
comets solid bodies, but inasmuch as they are 100
tunes thinner than the thnnest Clouds thinner than
the vacuum of an air pump, stars being visible
through nucleus 10000 miles thick, it could
hardly be so. The probable inference 10, that
the sun passed Immediately through it, and such
parts OF 1t as escaped its influence having remained
gave TO 1t the appearance which 1t had OF headless
comet and will account Tor the position OF its tail
when first seen at the High School, on the 23d Of
February. After the conclusion the comet moved
OIL in a curve called hypeIbola
The credit for the discoveries Of the phenomena
OF this comet is due TO the gentlemen who made the
observations at the observatory ot the II gh School
IN this city IL was FIRST seen there on the I'D OF
February, before 1t was noticed IN any other part of
the United States. It's first recorded appearance IN
| New England, was on the 9th of February. lthas
since been seen In almost every part OF the world,
and especially nthe North of Europe. 1t was last
seen at the High School Observatory on the 10th
April. and in another part of the United States by
, Professor LOOMS, of the Western Reserve College,
| on the 9TH. His instrument was not sufficiently
powerful to enable him to dscOverlt after that date
| The most recent elements from Europe, especially
from Berlin, Paris and Geneva, accord with those
obtained at the dates by the observers of the
High School.
HIGH SCHOOL OBSERVATORY,
MAY GOTH lSi3.
| To THE EpIron OF THE PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE
You will please find room in your columns for a con-
clusionperhapss final concerning the great comet
of the 9th of Febuary, lsi3 the most remarkable body
ever seen by mortals and whose visit to its periheon
on that day will for ages to come constitute the most me-
morabe epoch in the history Of the world The lost Pei
adj which by heby not lost, has been sung by the
head remains to be sung rather to be related in hum
BILE You have doubtless read in the columns of the
of inquiry relative to this strange visitor First he
was found TO have come nearer to the sun than any
Comet on record. except that of 1850 next he was
supposed by ourselves, (see the Phladel2ha Gazette
of April 6th) to- be the as the great comet of
1859 Prior this his identity with that of 1868 had been
suggested by Professor Pierce. and subsequently by Mr.
Cooper of Venice and by Professor Schumacher of Den
mark His resemblance to that of 1889 was more fully
confirmed by Professor PIERCE in the Boston Courier
under date OF April 10TH and finally the United States
Gazette of May 1th Professor Kendall and myself point
ed out its resemblance boh and suggested the proba
bility OF period OF 2lA years Lastly in the United
States Gazette of the 18th instant stated that the
suit of carefa and deliberate discussion of the observed
us to the full conviction that the orbit hyperboa
and that the perheon point within the BODY Of the
sun more than half way to its centre. Finally, in the
United States Gazette this morning have given the
hyperbolc elements and the corrections Of Mr. Downes
lar corrections Mr. Downes Ephemeris, computed from
the best Paraboc Elements The sum OF the squares of
the of Hyperbolc Ephemes is about one hun
dredth part great that of the Paraboo Ephemers
leaving no doubt that the Hyperboa is the true comic
section.
Last evening saw, for the first time communication
in the Courier des Eatf Uns of the 22d April by NJ Ar
rago containing statement of the results obtained by
the Astronomers of ths French Academy. Their ele.
ments follows, compared with those which pub
lshed in the Inquirer of April 18th, few days previous
to Arragos communication -
Arrago.-Perihelion passage. Feb.
27d lob. some min. m Paris.
Walker and Kendall 27d l0h. 96m. "
Arrago-Longtude of the perihslion o7so 40 ao'
Walker and Kendall 277 IS 81
Arrago-Longtude of the ascending node20 10 O.,
Walker and Kendall SIS 10
Arrago- Inclinations 35e 81 so
Walker and Kendall 3b 81 l
Arrago-Perbeon distance OO54OO
Walker and Kendall 0070l9
Arrago-Moton- Retrogade
Walker and Kendall do
The elements of the Partisan Astronomers
to than any have They will probably
give the places of the comet with errors about the
same ours-that is to say, many times greater than
recent hyperbolic elements
The hyperbolic elements are:-
Perihelion passage, Feb AID $1,000 m Green
Longitude of the perheon 1909 Al + Osm.eq MISC
Node 60 3. 80
Inclination 47s Is 90 .Os
PerheIion distance 0O02D75l2
Eccentricity lOOl49iI
Mean siderial daily motion 93s .624O
Motion retrograde
We compared all our observations with the best Ephe-
meris we could obtain, which computed from
elements at request by Mr. John Downes, the editor
Of the United States Almanac and obtained from the
rage corrections concurrng together the 10th and
soth March, and 9th April three normal average pla
of the comet for Greenwich mean midnight, which
far correct than the result single
We give them for the of astronomers, freed from
fraction parallax and aberraon:-
March. 2od 5-lo,h,; RA 4s 4 tm. sa'.4 81 m as.
April, 0i5 l1lhs; SO 5n. ass 80. 85U, Sci
The paraboc elements which Civ an 0rut passing
through the first and last places with intervsl If 30
day show acceera,ion psraboo for the mid
die dateo 22s This might be sonew nat diminished
by varying the elements bat 10 doing the periheon
point would fall within the sun, before This
Of 22s cannot before ascrbe 10 the of the
middle normal place which believe be not greater
than sec.
The paraboica elements of all the compuers fail to re-
locate its direction south OF Orion, whereas know
that its direction north of that constellation Our hy-
periodic elements give its place correctly
The corrections OF the Ephemeris computed by Mr..
John Downes, from these elements IN seconds Of
Hyperboiic Orbit ParaJohc Orbit.
Cor. r. "A Co, dec. Cor r. "A Cor dec
March 20.5 -O,5 On. add is 2
x x%SS 81 e ~ -sHs add s. 8 add :
These the established facts of the The
struck the the 9th Febru last and the 2sth
in the day time departing from the sun N
curve called an hyperbola Its tail on the 23d when
the High School Observatory by my brother sis
ter nd 4 position nearly vertical