Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-06
THE COMET.

I cPNAN GA1Aeef8 LmEGR0 INTO Telescopes
rho Comet OF 1s43-Letter from Profess
I scr Mitchell, etc., etc.
Fhis strange visier in cur heavens is increasing
IN brlIaney every day, and is attracting more and
more attention from the curious star gazers on all
! the street corners The telescope man at the cor
/ neT of Broadway and Park place has raised bis
/ tariff from slxpence 70 shilling peep in conse-
| quence Of the large increase OF custom, and the
gazers have to take their turn in line like folks at
the Post ofhce. Tuesday night the nucleus OF the
Douaii comet in the northwest vas brighter and the
tail longer than on any previous occasion. There
IS now no difficulty in distinguishing it with the
naked eye. The comet, according to a French as
tronomer, will reach its perihelion the 22d Oclo-
Der; viii cross the constellation Of Hercules in Jan
uaTy next vii disappear in March, but be again
visible IN the southern hemisphere. Il viii tempo
rarilv disappear towards the end Of the mouth, but
wi. make its appearance little before sunrise
in the constellation Of the Little Lion. The brill
hauey Of the comet on Thursday night was Of short
duration. 4 light haze sprung up from the north
western horizon at about quarter past o'clock
P n, and from that time the comet was partially
obscureds presenting but feeble light. Through
out the night the winds blew in ali directions thun-
der rolled and Lightning flashed. until il bceane
perfect tempest This storm commenced a. Buffalo
81 o'clock p. and travelled eastward as fsr as
Hudson, the telegraph lines at the same tine being
compelled to suspend operations. Some persons in
pute this tempest 10 the influence Of The eamet but
Of course that is absurd. Our bFilant 7isiter is
not ansEerable for The sudden disturbance Of the
elements.
The Longitude Of the perihelion Of this comet is
about thirty degrees and of the ascending node
about ono hundred and sixty six degrees The in
elinatiou is about sxty,eight degrees. The peri
heion distance is about 40 600 600 miles, or little
greater than the mean distance Of Mercury from
the Sun. Its motion is retroErade, 50 hat its ap-
parent motion is from right 10 lef, seen at THE
time. The velocity Of the comet. when Al is peri
belion, will be about $50 900 miles per hour. It's
tail is at least 100000 miles in length, though
there is difference Of opinion as to its dimeu
sions. Professor Hind, writing to the London Tss,
says that the apparent diameter Of the nucleus is
about five seconds Of arc aud, the comet is stil
upWards Of 10000 900 miles from the earth, the
real diameter will be rather over 8 900 miles TAX
ing the apparent length Of the tail at Eve degrees
its true length would appear TO be about Is 100000
miles Describing the appearance Of the tail, Pro-
fessor Hind says
The tail, which might be traced In the s'oomel
seeker" about five degrees from the head consisted
single ray, very we'll defined on the side pre-
ceding with reference to the direction Of mOlion
but fading away indistinety on the opposite side
very faint ray of ligh, emanated from the nucleus
towards the sun, previously remarked in several
Of these Objects and l thought at moments that a I
short horn 'seeion" issued fherefrOm At right
angles to the axis Of the tail
The increase IL the brightness Of this comet is so
nearly in conformity with theory that there is a /
high probability Of it being visible With telescopes
in full sunshine about the epact Of mazimHM brill /
laney 10 Oetober
In Mr. Kinds opinion this comet will not visit
these paris of space again for few hundred years
Il would appear that the tail OF the comet row Vsi-
bic is not long as that of previous ones. The
tail Of the comet Of 1913 was 90 600 600 miles long,
and that of 161l 1872 600 600 miles. All fears of I
collision with the planetary bodies have been dissi~
pated By the accurate observations Of astronomers
It has been aseeransd that comets are transparent
of taxi
ness from the sun, aud so far from affecting tie
planets when they into their neighborhOod, Il
was shown nearly century ago that comet enter
ing within the orbit Of the moons Of Jupiter was held
in suspension for four months and its course arrest
ed. The speed Of comets varies; but their velocity
increases considerably they approach the sun,
and their motion grOWa slower as they recede into
space One comet has been known to travel round
the sun at the rate Of s12 miles in q second The
distance which they Pscede from the sun Is sometimes
enormous, having reached in one instance seventy
Thousand four hundred millions Of miles, requiring
a period of nearly nine hundred th ousand years TO
travel that distance and back again to the sun.
Professor Bond of Harvard University, excellent
authority, writing on the 25th of September, says
DOnatis comet WILL in q few days, appear to in
crease rapidly in size and brilliancy. It will be
nearest the earth on the 9th Of October at which
time its bTIsncy will be nearly three times great
the 25d Of September, andits distance from Us
about hfty-tWO millions Of miles
According to Mr. Halls computation, the tail of
this comet the 23d ult extended to the length Of
fifteen millions of miles. The nucleus will be
the bright star Arcturas, Oct 5, and nearest the
eaIth's obit on the 20th --
Some confusion seems to prevail in regard to there
being two comets similar in appearances, visible
to the naked eye butts such is not the Donatrs
which is seen in The northwest after sunset is the
same which has been seen in the northeast before
sunrise in the morning. This is owing to the con
siderable northern defamation Of the comet with q
right ascension differing but little from that Of the
sun. mention his because have had several I
letters from different parts Of the country, making
the inquiry whether there two comets now TO be
seen Sy the naked eye.
Eneke's comet is barely visible TO the naked eye.
Tuttle's third comet o. 1853, nov be seen only
with the assistance Of q telescope.
Considering these facts, the preseat visiter is just
object of interest aud aitraCtiSn.-N J. Herald.