New-York daily tribune., 1861-07-07
NIGHT NOTES,
THE COMET.

rs IL 0pes 10 the naked eyei and can nothing
all ofthe tall What is that peculiar appendsge attacbe
to the upper side of the nucleusi
F, As'rOH0mer-Fan-sh0pedi
-Repater-Yes, Sir.
As,'0nomer-It appears in the glass on the uppe
eide, but It lie really on the side toward the SUM- th
telescops reverses the image, you must remember
That is So ,posed to be matter Of great rarity whc
the comet TIN ows of under tie influence Of the sur
The dirueed g vt which ovespreads the field Of view
all you can sec ofthe train.
Reporter-Wbst is the nature of the train
| hstronome--It ia supposed to be vapOr-like sub
stance into which ter at the surface of the cOmeta
body Is converted by tie action Of the According
to the Hypothesis, the f vi effect is violent discharge
of this matter toward the n which may be illustrated
BY the expansive acron Of steam. The second efec;
is the repuIson of his back toward the comet, and
with sucs force as to drive it yastehe comet-or nu-
ceus as we mus; cai lit at this stage-in two streams
one ON each side. Thesc srd uniting form the
tail. As tbs comet rcpedes from the sun tOese effects
cease, and tts original conditions IA restored.
Rep0,ier-Io il not remarkable th,v new comet 50
brilliant as thi, should bus suddeoly into yiew1
As'ronomer---Yes, it is unBslal.
RcDo,tey-Hss this one be,n announced by ostIoao-
mersl
Asiroaome,,-No; unless Il is Identical whh
Thatcher Comet, which passed It's perihehou on the
4th Of June.
Reporier-Do you think Il is
AStronomer-Not unlikely. And yet, if 4 is the
same it has this remarkable feature, namely that its
apparent path has doubled upon Itself That is 10 say
is going back into the depths of space through the
came regions OF the sky which it traversed when it
emerged and went up to greet the Thatcher
caught it, faint object something like nebula, up
yonder in the Dragon. 1t passed along between the
four stars of tie body of the Dpper; and now you see
it is at aide Of these srs, going back toward the
Dragon There is nothing strictly exceptional in this
course but il is little unusual
Repovter-Ifit it is not Thatcher Comet, bow has It
happened that astronomers should have missed nl
Astronomer--Tha, does not often occur, and yet Il
may easily happen, as will try to explain. In the
first place come bowling down into the regions
of the and earth of the distance and darkness
Of every part Of interplanetary space. Esst west,
north and south furnish each It's quota. The planets
you remember, all 60 round the from west 10 east
and in nearly the same plane. But the comets have
far greater license Of notion about one half Of them
go round from west To east and about half from
east 10 west while the planes of their orbits lie nen-
ed at every possible angle to the plane Of the eclipc
Thus they seen emerging from every quarter Of the
sky. Consider, in the next place, that they are very
small until they come the sum- which dfuses their
substanoe-so the doctrine, that when passing
near the sun they oyerpowered by the solar efful
gence, and thus usually invisible alike TO common
vision and TO the telescope and that when making !
eiI solar or periheon passage, rs II 10 called they
move with incredible velocity and develop their nebu-
lous appcndages with wonderful rapidity. Now, il
culnet should approach the sun on tie oppos side
from the earth and in the line nearly in tie line Of
the and the earth, il would almost always escape
detection by the telescope till had made its solar pas
sage IT, after il bad got two or three days distant
fom The sun the hither side cloudy westher should
intervene for few nights q state Of atmosphere
suited to the delicate Of the Astronomer the body
would very likely bum, suddenly upon the the
gaze aful-grown comet without having been profes-
sonally ushered in. Something like this has happened
in case Of the great csmet which all adj Z
mring. Ii has passed its perihehon, apd is rapidly
tring into its long obscuty. Its train is already
aiderably retrenched, think.
RsporteT-It will probably not last long. then
Astr0ROmer-lt may continue visible for weeks YET,
though it is likely to become noonopcuous in very
few DAYS.
Repoter-Have you determined what it. orbit is
Astroaomer-No. These determinations require I
great nicely of calculation and are often tedious But
few Observers make them. The weather has been 70 .
line for some nights past thst we shall doubtless have
the announcement in day or two from the great Oh
servatories Three good observations different /
nights, OF even on the night provided the comet
is moving with sufficient rpidy furnish all the data
the conputer wants build up the splendid facts Of
the comets motion.
Reporter-What sort of bodies are comets
Astr0aomer-Panetary. They shine like the
planets by reAecring the light Of the sun. ftheir
ph hysical constitution very little is known There
various evidence however that but one kind Of mat
ter prevails throughout planetary space that the earth
and the and the asteroids are made of the same
material; and that the planets and the and the
comets are like unto them.
Reporter-Do you suppose their matter iSthe same as
that of meteorc stones 7
Astroaomer-yery much the same.
Reporer-Then don't at all fancy the idea of their
irregular courses You say they from all quarters
of the heavens, and move in every direction 7
AstroH0mer-Yes.
Reportey-Is there not danger, then, of collision OF
these bodies with the earth and would not such col
lision be attended with ruinous consequences
As,roE0mer-The matter Of comets though probably
similar in most if not ALL of its elements to that we are
acquainted with on the the earth is in them so tenuous
that If collision should occur, it would be scarcely, if
at all felt like the fall of heavy body 1t would
probably amount to nothing more than the commin-
Cling Of the nebulous commetary matter with the esr
atmosphere. What the effect OF such oommingling
would be is, il must be confessed, very serious n
quy. The laws Of matter perfectly poised and