The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-10-10

and end, sometimes they resemble pcacocks' tails, and
one has been seen with six Their coors vary also from
pae vidness TO fiery red and from blue 70 green Again.
on the other hand they appear without any TAIL parcu
lary such called telescope, and visible to the eye
like that Of Bela.
The heat of these wandering orbs is often intense That
Of S4 which has described in the HERALD Of the LIST
instant computed have been Al 900 times greater
when near the SUM- than any which is experienced
in torrid twenty four times greater than
necessary melt crystal and 1000 times hotter than
hot ron the contrary when it reached the other
Of the solar sphere s temperature reduced to
about four times that of the torrd zone. II is
also asserted that the tail, with the excep
tions mentioned is kept opposite the
it moves around it, SO that the curve described
by the end of the tail is immensely greater than that of
the comet itself As, for example, the tail of the pre-
sent comet is six millions of miles, the sweep
would be- If circular eighteen millions. These tails
shot out with amazing force and rapdity The
visible but about two three degrees when it first
appeared it is than twenty That belonging
the comet of 1880 extended itself two days than
a hundred millions of miles.
The paths of comets those produced by the lines Of
the intersection Of plane with the conc, cllptcal when
the returns to itself after having been drawn out in
one direction the pboc where the curve partakes of the
openness Of epsc and the hyperboa and the hyper
boa, that most curious Of al, which, though curve,
never returns to ITSELF but is protacted through all IL
fnity 1t is produced practically by cutting with
plane parallel the direction of its xis Every young
mathematical Student must remember his surprise on
being told of the possibility Of drawing such curve, and
of there being the asymptotes, lines of hyper
bola, always approaching and yet meeting And
yet, this problem is capable of visible dcmonstra-
ton with piece Of string. Some
hasa
of those endless lines, and are never expected
TO return What imagination contemplate the
ness of this idea, Of the system to which belong
and how absurd those geoogst who believe
world has existed but 6,0o0 years! Thc rh at
first without form and void and these comets
yet arrested in their after destiny of years. the
number of which DEFY all human calculation and cannot
be expressed in any amount Of numerals be found
any human arithmetic.
The periods of comets are determined by what are
called their clements These
/. The longitude of their perihclon
2. The longitude of the ascending nodes pon, where
the orbit Of planet ntersec.s the ccp,ic when going
north.
eclrtic.
4. The eccenricity Of the orbit
S. The length of tho semmaior axis or the elIipse
6. The time of passing the perihcliou.
:. Motion direct or rerograde.
so perfect have become our Astronomical instruments
that these observations eau all be accurately made
the principles which the work their
calculations incorrect, then should no, be able to
construct almanac chemeris, to io-cte eclipse
or an occdation, 10 regulate our clocks or determine
the position of ship at sea- reach with certainty
wished for port We afford to believe these asronc
mers, then, when they ak about aud regard
ts .vitl,
perfect confidence accept the Of Professor
Mitchell, &c Cincinnati when he says that by mcromcii-
cal measurement he has asccrained that Tire distance
from the centre Of the ring OF the present comet 10 ts
circumference when ne observed IL, was nine thousand
miles And here II our space permitted We might make
some curious explanations Of the varieties Of instruments
necessary or complete observatory; and how diane.
ters distances and motions computed The perois
cf some or the comets, particularly such have been
!acy discovered. have been accurately determined
that they rcappear with remarkable precision 1T the
lcctcd moment
one Of tie rocuarttes a. the tails Of comets Is their
curvature such may bc observed the ysl-
ble giving sabre form, and the curve being towards
the direction IN which the body Is proceeding n so in
this instance. The come, is proceeding % the west,
ana the curve Is opposite and eastward Their
rcarnc's to the sun, or the pcrihcliou distance,
varies considerably; their orbits do lot pagtaSc o;
tho direction character cl ,hc planets the nclnst
70 the plane of the ccpiic al ANGLES, and about
half II them of the two hundred whose directions are
known, have rctrorade motion--the With tae
now visible.
Tose hoe PERIODS have been mcsi accurately deter
mined Haleys, En,ke's, Bca's and Fayc's Thc
lrst duc in 1875 ant appeared accordingly. Thr
present rupposcd by Dna the difccycror be
identical With that cr Fabricus Charlrsv Bui Pahnr'
denies ts IDENTITY because that or Charlie went ~ h
eaf. and this goes the west aai there da,rcncc
hundred degrees in ~ pcrihelon 1T Is more -
bc compared with ~ s1ys he, hsu the mai from Bret
with that Il Strasburg Vet ho has been irsca
in relation TO The time OF H. greatest brightness nv
least a month. W. therefore cd 10 believe thst this
IL visiior, else may suppose thai a. motion.
though ellptcai, may he spiral alo tho
the earth, which when projected up'1 map =
cessou Of s,rais like tha &C cork wb'u
angle scolop edges Joined torcter esch end
with a loop This theory surgcst without hoecver.
knowing hos Gar will hold water. is suggestion ~
make the ink Of the preceding paragraphs grows dry
II Il be objected that The are not PARALLEL W. ina,
reply that IIerthc thought Lat the has motion and
carrying th al his train &C planets towards tho con
stcllaon Hercules. In addt thc periodical comets
We have mentioned tete j. another Gle med have ba
discovered in Naples 1876. by Dr. Peters whom Ne
nave rese0r suspect j. the astrcnomer who !.
mixcd up wit the difficulty a. tlc Dudley Observatory.
andwas d.ced through The fundamentally Of Pro.ss
Gould
From his crtcmcts, assigning s probable orb., wa
appear in twelve ourteea year G may TO-
q Le Csc discovered within the present year ppd
no, little singular ,ha, si meeting q the American As
socs,on 60, the Advancement of science. hvd rac!
Iba few years since, Professor Goull cuirg1cd pr
Peters tor his services ani nycsa alton. III. branch o
astronomical science.
There some other curious Circumstances relating a.
our subject which want 81 time and space cenpi.
c.utsuch description oi 'hc ca,aoglrs ot ob
served comets their mmen@ nunbots trssd by sulic
a. bc upwards cG ~ 10o0ic ,iHtatcus IL rl.f tails.
sometimes distinctly observed aud wh,h pes.cn.
hink they have detected IN the present ono ami above
all = their ucs Tho greatest puzzle parhsp. - s Pro
fcssor Nicho, Of Glasgow hs woS on tbc Architecture