New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-15
COMETS. THEIR HISTORY AND AlBlTS'

xl.aNu
,,rui.hed philosopher respecting them WILL
be interesting. ..;t,. :.
:, ,l0s there appeared splendd comet ''7'o7 IN
tle DAYTIME all over Europe. 1t preseh''' '"V
.,es Of Gcry beam, stretching 'ro'" ", - o.
A.. .o,,hess. regions Of the heavens. lho o"i'' o
1854 noticed alike by European anu On".'' ,'''V-
ri,ns ard populary believed 70 '''ou '1V u's'"
- 80, ~ which really happened in October
'P" "a xbich stretched across more than
', - o.,sfo hesvsus, II il supposed to have been
Oh that Of 1856 and itS return IN now conf
,.<LaJ for by astronomers. Ia ii02 were sccu
r. o.. most brilliant on record, one of which
..ssJ saer sunset magnihcent tai SO' long. Both
~ visible by day. In iijt, The people of Europe
thrown INTO Consideration by the appearance of
met simultaneously with the fall Of Consantinople
l,4one the Turks. Comet and Turk were deprecated
,ocether. and against the twain was launched the
Pores anathems. Vt exhibited tail CO. long. To
th comet on its third subsequent resppearanee in
1882 Haley gave his naiDe, ~ being the first to
compute its elements It's period Of orbal revolution
is sclee ~ years The seventeenth century presents
fertile record Of cometic phenomena. II 1913, up.
pesrei a stranger whi'h surpassed in its train that of
1864, having at one Time Tail which measured 1912
Ons appeared in 1852, which Heyelus describes
being of the size OF huf-moon though having pale
brilliant in the south of Europe and in Brazil.
In 1880 came Of the most remarkable on record
and TO it belongs the glory of having under the
GOd-like gaze Of Newton, and Of having furnished him
with data for proving that the movements of comets
depend upon the principles control the planets
in their orbits. This body passed within $50 600 miles
of the SUM- and at speed of oSO,0C0 miles per hour
ten swept Of into space again toward its farther goal
q, ,fio afoulat
400, 900 H0, ttJ miles distant
In l639 a comet shone which drew train of light
s. degrees long. There grounds for supposng this
iobc identical with that of ISi3
The eighteenth century distinguished BY two
comets OF remarkable aspect In l14i, came into view
one OF the few recorded to have been in full
shine. On the lst Of tcburuary, it was moro brilliant
than Sirius the 9Th equaed Jupiter the lst of
March at O'Clock P. ., five hours after its periheion
passage, II visible 10 the naked eye Another in
1863 spanped the heavens with an immense train of
light The first comet of 1871 remarkable for the
length Of time it remained visible That of lS43 is
rardcd ~ of the most wonderful Of modern times.
1t visible in Bologna, Italy, at noon, two diane
of tbe suns disc east of the sun, while passing its
periheloD being then only &c 900 miles distant from
that umnsry, and its speed Boo miles per second,
1917 600 per hour 40, that in twelve minutes it must
have passed over space equal TO the distance be-
tween the earth and its moon, When its distance
from the sun allowed il to be visible after sunset, il
presented appea rance of extraordinary magnif-
cence especially in tropical latitudes. Some astrcno
ers have computed ii 10 have period Of 8 767 years
In July 1874, appeared, which has been csti-
mated to have period of 100000 years In 1916,
Bielas comet which is one of the class of comets of
short period" revolving in about 63 years, startled
observers by dividing itself in two, and 30 passing
ts path out of sight The estimated number of comets
OF which we have account, is upward Of 600, nearly
all Of which telescope, and have no tails, though
some have appeared with as many az sig.
The fewness of their visits and the fairness between
the enormous extent OF the orbits of some Of them
stretching, perhaps tar beyond the limits OF solar
system. coming up from the unfathomed depths of
space to CLEAN few brief days in sky, and then
diving down again out of telescope sight, on their
long but swift journey, il may be to other planetary
systems never to be beheld again by the denzens of
our earth, the wonderful enuty Of their substance
and the variety of the hypothesis which different
philosophers have offered to account for the pheuom
ena they present, make them object of sublime
interest to the astronomer.
Comets move commonly, in elliptical orbits OF great
ccntri,ty-thcse of "short period having their
orbits within that Of Neptune.
The star-gazcr is ever on the lookout for these
cratic strangers poripg over the open page, whose
letters are worlds, peering with his far-searching
lenses everywhere between the twinkling constant
little stars, too happy if some wayward little body
come dancing into the field of his instrument, and
make him its rst discoyercr II grows rapidly, sailing
out of one constellation into another, and gradually
assumes it the sum- sort OF uebulous hood.
This euyeloping hood soon ienCthens out behind it.
forming a train of thin light, which is largest and
brightest a little after the passage Of the perheion
This train is always the side of the comet which is
opposite to the generalization not made by Eu-
ropean observers till the time of Appan, 1871, though
understood among the Chinese as early a. 81. The
nucleus or head OF comet when viewed through
powerful glass has the appearance of an iTesolvabe
nebula or patch Of fog the lens having the effect TO
dihuse rather than define its outline The tail has the
same hazy character and is of ncouceivable tenuty
the smallest telescope star being visible through it
without the slightest appreciabe dininution of light
though, according to HerSchel, the thickness of this
cometc matter, in the comet of 1911, was l5OOO,OO0
miles,
The tails Of comets vary in length seen from dr
ierent PLACES. That of 1850 had train GO long as
measured AT Pans, and 901 at Constsulinople. That
of 1863 extended, the 9th September over IS at
London s. at Pans, 20 at the Isle of bourbon and
10 at Tenerifie-Showng tina; the length of the tail
depends upon the Of the atmosphere. The length
Is often enoYnous-the comet of 1915 being estimated
Nv Prof Peirce to have trsin streaming ont
800 900 900 miles into space. once and half the
distance Of the sun from the earth aud all this
formed in some three weeks!
The incacuable subtlety OF the diAusei cometic
matter may he Inferred fcom the fact that they have