Omaha daily bee., 1874-07-17
THE COMET.
It is Rapidly Disappearing.

For the past few weeks NJ.
Coggia's comet has almost every
evening been plainly visible to the
naked eye, and of all the heavenly
bodies has been "the observed
of all Observers But within
the last three or four even
ings it has been gradually fading
away. In fact the comet has
practically left is. 1t will still be
visible, by the aid of the telescope,
to astronomers; but as a popular
exhibition il is no more. 1t has
gathered strength in the northern
heavens for the past three months,
and will be intrinsically brighter
than now a few days hence, but will
shine to us only in competition with
the sunlight. After tonight, as we
learn from a gentleman well versed
in the interesting science of astron-
omy, it will set before the expira-
ton of twilight, and not rise to us
still after the morning twilight has
begun.
At twelve O'Clock Wednesdaynight
il spositiOn was right ascen-
81 7,hours 40 minutes, north de-
clination 40 degrees 40 minutes. 1t
is moving almost due south at the
rate of a little more than 3 degrees
per day. Its present distance from
us is 80, COO, 600 miles. Wednesday
night the head (nucleus) set at 9
hours and 80 minutes, and rose this
morning at 2 hours and 80 minutes,
being nearly 81 hours below our hori-
n...Parties who live in the country,
" here the air is pure all the way
down to the horizon, may see the
head after dark tonight.
A portion of the tail will, how
ever, be visible to us for several eve.
nings yet, stretching up between
the stars known as Epsilon, and h,
in the Great Bear, those being the
two prominent stars next below the
Dipper, and a little to the right, in
the evening. The tail will be cen
all the better for the absence of the
nucleus, its light being too faint to
be able to compete wen with that
of the volume of rar gas which
moves i'm the cOmetary orbit.
The comet will make its nearest
approach to our earth ON the 22d
inst. The readers of the BEE need
| not be alarmed at the announce
ment, as they will not be made
aware of the fact in any other way
than as a result of calculation.
Some superstitious persons enter
/ tain the idea that the comet will
"come it" over the earth next We'd
nesday, and knock it all out of
shape. No SO, however, as it will
proceed southwark, and be visible to
the astronomers of Australia and
South America, till the early part of
November. 1t will then have been
visible about six months
and a-half, and a eompari=
son of all the observations
will enable its orbit to be
determined with great ac-
curacy. We shall then know
whether it is moving in a parabol;c
o. lott, nevsr to return TO US, Ok
whether it will have . measurable
peiiOd around our sun. In the last
case 1t may possibly prove to be the
same comet that was observed In
China i'm 1877.
The numerous spectrOscOpic OBJ
servatiOns that have been made by
various astrpnomers Of this comet,
all point to the conclusion that it is
composed Of defiant gas, which is
a compound Of equal measures of
carbon and hydrogen. The neucleus
appears to be much less than it was
two or three weeks ago, indicating
that the tail has grown at the ex-
psnss Of the head, and supporting
the theory that the tail is actual
cometary substance