The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-09-05
Encke's Comet Its Expected
Appearance.

EDcke's comet II due, save the Providence
Journal, and the star glLcrs are turning their
telescopes 70 the skies IN the bOpe Of discovering
the presence OF tie expected visitor. IL - inter
esting chiefly for performing it, revolution within
the boundaries Of the solar system for the eompa-
ratiyely SPORT period within which It's revolution
takes place. and fr the reason that we know
more about IL than wc d. Of those vast ethereal
creations which vi-is Jur system and then rush oil
into space.
Eneke's Comet. although Il Was really discover
et by ". POns on IL return IN lslO. was seen
fur times before IT. identity was determined. IL
was fret detected By q French dIscyyerer IN 1856,
then by Mis- Caroline He5schel IN 1875. again
by = Frgnchman IN 1905. and lately BY VI. POns
IN 1916. Astronomers bean % marx the simi-
Ltrity Of the orbir- u the four comets, and NJ
EEcke, By combining tire observations that had
been made, demonstrated that j; was one and the
same oDmet which had appeared at these difereat
times. Encke then predicted its return IN $50,
the petition which il would occupy among the
starr. and also that IL would only be seen IA the
southern hemisphere. lie lad the happiness Of
finding his predictions yerifel by the observations
Of an astronomer ia New Sjuth Wales. since
this time. there have been thirteen returns Of
this eccentric visitor o il pcriheliOn, every one
Of which has been predicted with the greatest &c
curacy.
The orbit Of Encxe's comet j. an ellipse, inclin-
ell az an angle % thirteen degree o toe plane Of
the carth's orbit. At its nearest point IL i 81
bbu.tIU niles, aL4 at rs fMJsE remote POINT u !.
3I1 900 600 miles irOm t-c sun. Its peTIhe.ion
i between the Gun and Mercury, and it, apbeliOn
j. between Jupiter and Asteroids. It's motion.
like that Of the planets, J. from west 20 east, and
It's revolution u completed IN about 1910 days,
subject y 4 variation which y caused BIZ tie dis
tgrbIng influences q tire planetary ma-ses near
which II comes in It's eccentric course.
Eneke's comet j. rs 10 means q remarkable
one. IL il a telescope comet and consists Of 4
circular patch Of nebGlous light, a few minutes
Of an are in diameter and sJmewhat condensed
toward the centre. Though usually ONLY visible
through a telescope !; has been distinctly seen by
the naked eye. such was IL APPEARANCE in ls2S,
when il was in a favorable condition for Ob-erva-
ton, and it, light VIA equivalent TO that Of a
star OF the fifth magnitude st common times
there J. no trace Of a tail; but on rare occasions
= slight one mas been discsrncd, once as u faint
brush of light extcndin, from the comet towards
the sun. end again with n :ecOnd apIendage op-
poetic the frst. We shall not enter into scientific
details upon the dilatiOus and contrnctions OF It's
volume a. IL approaches to or recedes from the
sun; neither stall we philOsophize upon IT. cx-
trcme tenuity. - that stars OF the eleventh mng-
uituds may he seen through it, Transparent sub
stance; neither shall We calculate automatically
the effect upon its motion Of it, vicinity to tho
planetary Orbs within the sphere Of whose attrac-
ton il yields obedience % tie universal law.
The little star has its mission. BY Obserya-
tons on its excessive perturbations,' when
nearest Jupiter, the mass Of the huge planet was
more accurately determined, and, in the same
manner. when IL was nearest Mercury, from the
action Of the planet, an error was detected in In
Places value Of Mercury mas. This corrected
value Is the one adopted in the American
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac
During July the eDmet rises half an hour after
and on the l6th Of the month It's place
was midway between the Pleiades and IOata Auri-
ge, and on the 26th il vas between Ioata Auri-
re and Beta Tauu. Astronomers all over the
world are sweeping carefully it, track with their
telescopes.