The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-04-02
COMETS AND METEORs.


over millions OF years, rushing up to-
ward the sun, passing around him, ana
then passing away with no hint as to /
what depth of space they Will fly TO, and /
vet we arc compelled to associate with |
them bodies like meieors so small in di-
mension that a child could IN many cases
carry them. The most important facts
in relation to comets are, that they !
come from outer space, and after travel |
ing almost directly toward the sun fer
a long period of time circle around
him, and PASS away again into the
depths of space; and strange as it
seems their motions first gave astrono-
mers a proof that there was no resist
ing the truth of the law of gravity,
Newton'5 comet, as the comet OF 1850
is called, was chosen by that astrono-
mer to demonstrate the theory Of gray
itation. He discovered it's precise 4
path, predicted its motion, and, as he
had prophesied, it came directly toward ]
the sun, and when within the sixth part
of the suns diameter it relied around
him and then passed away on a track
precisely like that on which it had ar
rived Like all other comets of dis
tinction it had long tail, and as it ap-
proaehed the sun that tail extended
away from the sun, and was then car
ried behind the comet but as the comet
passed around the sun along tail, 90,
000,0 600 miles in extent, was. seen, no
longer carried behind the comet, but
travelling now in front of it, and in
day or two that comet was lost sight of,
that long tail was thrown out.
HaAey's comet, which appeared in
1885, was one OF the most noted and
the changes in the shape Of its neucleus
which gradually formed itself into an
almost perfect crescent and Afforded
rare opportunities for observation. At
ter passing around the sun itreappeared
without tail and only to be distin-
guished from a star by its position and
course, but seemed to struggle to throw
out a new tail, and during the 6Yeweeks
which it was visible increased seventeen
times in volume. From this comet and
the observations which were made of
its various phases astronomers were able
to deduce the theory that the tail is q
gas which, like the vapor of water, is
invisible when the temperature mounts
above given point, but which becomes
visible when condensed.
Lexels comet, named after the as
tronomer who discovered it, had
period of five and one-half years, and
astronomers thought that from it they.
MOlANA dlnCCNCI LuALJ nlbuEILO
facts IN reference to these mysterious
visitors, but it was never seen again,
and it was discovered that by the power
of the giant planet Jupiter it had been
diverted from its course and sent into
the realm of space. Astronomers traced
1t back and calculated its path and
found that the same hand which sent
that comet away had introduced 1t.
That comet, in 1867, approached quite
close to Jupiter-so close, in fact, as to-
intrude itself among its satellites.
Jupiter compelled ii. to follow. another
course. At the end of eleven Yeas,
the comet having made two revolutions
and Jupiter one, it was again seized by
Jupiter and sent outside the solar sYs-
tenn. But still there is one point about
this comet of Lexel worth notice. 1t
had gone into the midst of Jupiter's
satellites. The satellites are not large
objects, and if the comet had any mass
he could disturb them but instead Of
that all those satellites are stin travel
ing the path they had before that comet
had arrived. and we learn, therefore,
that the comet at any rate was mere
| vapor aud had no power or weight,
although it was much larger even than
Jupiter.
Eneke's comet, as the comet of 1913
| is called, travels the shortest period of
/ any comet we knew of-three and one
half years-and permits such close OBJ
seIvction that it has been determined
exactly how much it is retarded by the
ether which fills space, and this very
retardstion, by subiecting it more
strongly to the influence of the sun,
gives it greater actual velocity, white
its orbit continually diminishes in
size. -.
Biela's comet was discovered in 1926,
and a period of six years and eight
months was assigned TO IL. It's path
crossed that of the earth, and many per-
sons thought that in 1882 collision
would follow which would work meal
| culable evil, but that result did not en-
I sue, and nothing was seen of it until
1916, when it was found travelling on It's
usual path, and, to the great astonish-
ment of astronomers, it was announced
that the comet had divided into two
parts, each having distinct head and
nucleus-in fact, two separate comets
travelled along, side by side, and the
strange circumstance was noted that
they interchanged light; sometimes one
and sometimes the other was brighter,
as if there we're Communication between
them. They were a kind of Siamese
twins. They passed INTO space, and as
tronomers thought they could watch
them again and ascertain how they were
separated, but they we're never seen
again. ''N - N >'Ay@
DOnsti's comet, which appeared in
1858, had two and at times three dis
tinct tails, the principal one curved,
the others straight, and this the speaker
explained somewhat deliberately by stat
ing that repulsion in this case did not
take place Instantly; that the head OF
the comet consisted of two kinds OF
matter-one wss Iepelled with moder-
ate velocity, very great but moderate
by comparison, and the other repealed
with great velocity, and so swept off in
to straight line. It would be mani
fest, that being the case, since there
was separation of the matter in the
comets tail, that if the comets head
was complicated in structure there
would be an intermixture of the two
kinds of matter, and the portion more
readily repealed would escape the first
and would form the straight tail.
For long time meteors were looked
on as phenomena of our atmosphere.
but facts began to be observed which
led TO different conclusion. One fact
was that the meteors occurred in show
ers on certain days, as for instance the
showers of November 13, which are cal
cuiated with the most wonderful aeon
racy. The period OF the meteor. streams
is third of a century. That was the
actual time when the last great display
took place, AFago being one of the as
tronomers who described It most close
! ly, and Humboldt described another
shower in 1779. If they travel on their
course, having period of thirty-three
| years, we might account for the recur-
/ renee.
Everything seemed to be done to
show that the meteois travelled in. the
track of the comets. But one test re-
NAMED and that Wfs to predict that af-
ter comet had passed a certain place
there would be q shower of mefeors,
ana the prediction would be confirmed
then there would be a new, kind OF
| evidence. The meteors following BIZ
! elias comet furnished that evidences.
| Alexander Herschel, ia England, pre-
dicted that, when the earth came to that
! part of her orbit-Nov. 20. 1ST2-there
| Womb ha rSriclso I,isr a sy1-flf 7faf,loxy ~