Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-09-23
NO. 45.

CoNETs--Their Composition History, and
MoUements.-The recent appearance of celes-
tial stranger in the sky, has received the popu-
lar interest i'll comets, their history and move
ments. The comet which was visible last week;
was first discovered on the 10th of June last. at
Gottengen. by Mr.. Klinkerfues, and it is regar-
ded as remarkably bright and beautiful A
few nights since, its distance from the earth.
was calculated at 70,000,000 Of miles, and from
the sun 30,O00,00o. The diameter of the nu.
cleus was IL seconds of are, and the length Of
the coma rs minutes. The passage of the
perihelion has already occurred OF is about to
take place. The present, therefore, is an ad-
mirabe time to examine it. Comets, according
/ to Sir Richard Phillips, are moving masses OF
transparent fluids or vapors, which ascend from
high angels of 400 to o50-towards the plane
of maximum solar force; and are there turned
! by that force, into another hne of motion ike
an orbit. They are estimated at many thoi
sands in number. Comets are chiefly remarka-
BILE for luminous projection in line directly
opposite TO the sun, which therefore follows
them If they approach the sun, and goes before
them as they leave the sun, and is head or
tail as their positions vary. Comets have large
atmospheres, and according to some astrono-
mers, they are all atmosphere. Thus, then, the
suns rays pass through the spherial atmos-
phere, Just Exc the globe; and the projection
increases in length, as it approaches the lumin-
Gus sun. When a comet has a distinct nucleus,
the projection is divided in the mida4e by SEN
sible line. The projections are millions Of
miles long--some even extend to l50,000000,
o miles.
The first comet that was discovered and de-
scribed accurately, was by Nicephorus. At th:
birth of the great Mithridates, l35 u. c., two
large comets appeared, which were seen for y
DAYS together. Their splendor, SAYS Justin,
eclipsed that of the midday sun-probably an
ancient exaggeration and they occupied fourth
part of the heavens. During the reign of the
Emperor Justinian, in the early part of the
sixth century, three comets were visible at Que
time. These, as did the phenomena at the
birth of Mithridates, excited the terrors Of the
uperstitious-indeed of all mankind, the more
especially as both periods were distinguished
by war, pestilence and famine. most bril-
liant modern comet appeared in 1863, and pas
sed within 100000 miles of the earth. One
still more brilliant appeared in September, Oc-
| tober and November, 1911, and was visible al
the autumn with the naked eye Another cou-
ct appeared in l923-while in l64l, there was
one of enormous magnitude, but without any
solid looking nucleus, or body. This appari-
ton will be remembered by most of our rea-
ders 1t only remained in sight for a few days,
having moved from the sun southwark with in
credible velocity. To the eye of the common
observer. when first seen Just above the wes-
tern horizon its coma or tail must have been near
| ly lOO0 in length. DR.. Dick, in his celebrated
work en- Celestial Scenery, devotes considerable
space to the physical constitution of comets
The nucleus he regards as the solid or densest
part of the comet. Some suppose that the nu-
clei of comets are transparent, as well as their
! nebulOsties, and allege proof that stars
have been seen through a nucleus. The accura-
cy of such statements is, however questioned.
"In resepct to the tail, or luminous train
which generally accompanies comets, it is found
that it is generally in opposition to the sun, or
on prolongation of the line which would join
the sun and the nucleus. But thiss not always the
case. Sometiems the direction of the tail has
been found at right angels with this line; and
in some extraordinary instances, the tails of
comets have been observed to point directly
| toward the sun. This was the case with a CON-
ct that appeared in 1925, which for about eight
| days exhibited an additional luminous train in
| opposition to that which assumed the ordinary
direction. This anomalous tail, according to
Olbers, was 70 long, while the other was only
3l0, and it was bright enough to be seen with
all opera glass. In general, however, it Is
found that the tail inclines constantly toward
the region last quilted by the comet as if in its
progress through an ETHEREAL medium; the mat
ter forming it experienced more resistance
than that of the nucleus. The tail is generally
enlarged IN proportion to its distance from the
head of the comet, and in certain cases it is divi
ded into several branches, as already noticed of
the comet, Of 1907. Some have supposed that
the divided tail is nothing more than perspec-
tive representation of the sides of q great hol-
low cone; but there are certain observations
which seem to prove that, in some cases, they
have Seperate existence as independent
branches.
The most remarkable instance of divided
tail was in the comet of l744. On the 9th and
7th of March, there were six branches in the
tail, each of them about 40 in breadth, and
from 800 to 40o long. Their edges were pretty
well defined and tOlerablv bright; their middle
emitted but o feeble light; and the intervening
spaces were dark as the rest ofthe armament.
The tails Of comets, as already noticed some
times cover an immense space in the heavens.
The comet of 1850 had tail which extended
to 68o, that of 1911 to 23o and that of l779 to
90 in length; SO that some of these tails must
have reached from the zenith to the horizon
The length of the tail of the comet of 1850, esti-
mated in miles, was lI2,75O,000 that of 1862.
Al, ,00J, ,O00 and that of l744, 8,25O,00O miles.
body moving at the rate of 20 miles every
hour, would not pass over the space occupied
by the tail of the comet in less than GA years
1t has been supposed by some astronomers that
certain changes in the appearance of the tails
of comets arise from the rotation of the COM
etary body; as some comets have been supposed
to rotate about an axis passing through the cen
tire of the tail, such as that of 1925, which was
concluded, from certain appearances, to per
form its rotation in 20 hours, 80 minutes.
"As to the nature of the immense tails OF
comets, their origin, or the substance of which
they are composed, we are entirely ignorant;
and it would be wasting time to enter into any
speculation on this subject, as nothing could be
presented to the view of the reader but vague
conjectures, gratuitous hypothesis, and rDtoun'
ded theories"
A Virginia Valley Wheat CfoP.-Geo Bur-
WE'LL of Clarke county, Va, gathered 500 loads
of wheat as the result Of his late harvest. Each
load was found to turn 20 bushels, making the
net aggregate of $4,000 bushels for this years
crop. As regards the number of bushels to au
ordinary load, it is said that the Blue Stem
White Wheat ana the Zimmerman turn out 32
bushels, whilst, the Mediterranean only realizes
% The diferance is worthy of considera>
tom Winchester Republican.