The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-10-21

In lOoU came one OF the most remark
able on record; and to it belongs the glo-
ry Of having come under the God-like
gaze of Newton. and of having furnished
him with data for proving that the move
ments of comets depend upon the same
principles as control the planets iu their
orbits. This body passed within 10000
miles Of the sun, and at speed of $780,
600 miles per hour! then swept of into
space again toward its farther goal, S0,-
O0O,00O,0O0, or, according to other cal
culations. 4O0, ,OOO, ,000. 900 miles distant!
In 1859 a comet shone which drew
train of light 6s degrees long. There
are grounds for supposing this to be iden
tical with that of l643. .at
The eighteenth century was distin-
guisbed by two comets of remarkable as
pect. In l744, came into view one Of the
few recorded to have been seen in full
sunshine. On the l st of February, it was
more brilliant than Sirius: on the sth it e.
qualled Jupiter;on the lst of March, at l
o clock p. m., FIVE hours after its perihelion
pas>aIe, it was visible to the naked eye.
Another in 1863 spanned the heavens
with an immense train Of light. The first
comet of 1911 was remarkable for the
length of time it remained visible. That
o. lS43 is regarded as one of the most
wonderful of moderr times. 1t wa. visi-
Bile in Bologna, Italy, at noon, two d.
ameters of the suns die east of the sun,
while passing its perihelion, being then
only 96, 600 miles distant from tia lumi-
nary, and its speed 266 miles per second,
or 1,3l7,6O0 per hour; SO, that in twelve
minutes it must have passed over space
equal to the distance between the earth
and its moon! When its distance from
the sun allowed it to be visible after SUM-
set, it presented an appearance of extra
ordinary uagni6cence, especially 10 trop-
ical latitudes. Some astronomers have
computed it to have a period of 3,767
years In July, 1914, one appeared,
which has been estimated to have peri
cd of 100000 years In l646, Biela's
comet, which is one of the class of "com-
cts of short period" revolving in about
So years, startled observers by dividing
itself iu two. and so passing on its path
out of sight The estimated number of
comets OF which We have account, is up
ward of 600, nearly all of which are tel
escopic, and bave no tails, though some
have appeared with as many as six!
The fewness Of their visits and the far
ness between, tie enormous extent Of the
orbits of some of them, stretching, per-
baps, far beyond the limits Of our solar
system, coming up from the unfathomed
depths of space to CLEAN few brief days
in our sky, and then diving down again
out of telescope sight on their long but
swift journey. it may be to other planeta-
ry systems, never to be beheld again by
the denizens of our earth, the wonderful
tenuity of their substance, and the varie-
ty Of the hypothesis which different phi
losopbers have offered to account for the
phenomena they present, make them an
object of sublime interest to the a5trono
mer.
Comets move, commonly, in elliptical
orbits of great eccentricity-those OF
"sbort period having their orbits within
that of Neptune.
The star-gazer is ever on the lookout
for these erratic strangers, poring over
the open page, whose letters are worlds,
peering, with bis far-searchiug lenses, ev-
erywhere between the twiDkling, constant
little stars, too happy if some wayward
little body come dancing into the field Of
bis instruue ent, and make bin It's first dis
coverer 1t grows rapidly sailing out of
one constellation into another, and grad
ually assumes, as it nears the SUI, sort
of nebulous hood. This enveloping hood
soon lcngthens out behind it. forming a
train Of thin light, which is largest and
brightest little after the passage of the
perihelon. This train is always on the
side of the comet which is opposite to the
sun--a generalization not made by Eu-
ropean observers till the time of Appian,
1881, though understood among the Chi
nese as early s7l. The nucleus or head
of comet when viewed through pow
erful glass has the appearance of an ire
solvable Deeula, or patch of fog. the lens
having the effect to diffuss rather than
define its outline. TIE tail ha1 the same
hagy character and is of iDconceivatle te-
nuity, the smallest telcscOpic star being
visible through it without the slightest ap-
preciab!e diminuton of light, though, ac-
cording to IIerobel, the thickness of this
eomeiic matter, in the comet of 1911,
was Is ,OOO,0 900 miles
The tails of comets vary in length as
seen from different places. That of 1850
had train 60 deg. long. as measured at
Paris, and so deg at ConstantinOple. That
of 1869 extended, on the 9th of Septem-
Der, over 43 deg. at London. % deg. at
Paris, 60 deg. at the Isle of Bourbon,
and 5 deg.a Teneri life showing that Il e
length of the tail depends upon the state
of the atmosphere. The length is often
epormous-the comet of lS43 being estl-
mated by Prof Pierce to have train
streaming out 900, 600. 900 miles into
space, or once and half the distance ot
the sun from the earth aud all this form
ed in some three weeks! ir ef.1