The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1874-07-11

Which tightly grows brighter ln th
NOftbwesterB heavens. wo iudgo tlls
a little reading about them will no
prove bninierestihg, and lhcrefor'
select such matter from the books, OF
The subject, az we think will lntercsr
The casual reader ltemiring bJ
stating that the heavenly vl.ltant
nos attracting attention Is merely
named from the hrst discoyerer Of it,
last April, at Marseilles, without IL
yet being known whs,hor It is an
entirely new visitor or not, TO our
Solar System. 1t will arrive at
perihelion (nearest the sun) when il
will be brightest, on the evening Of
August 3rd.: -.
Comets are a class of bodies the
most iacinating perhaps, Of any in
astronomy. The audiences with
which comets flame out in the sky,
the enormous dimensions Of their
fiery trains, the swiftness of their
flight the strange and mysterious
forms they assume, their departure as
unheralded as their advent-all
seem to bid defiance to law, and par
take only OF the marvellous Super
sitions fears have always been excit
ed by their appearance, and they
have been looked upon id every age
as
Threatening the world with famine, plague
and war
To princes, death to Kingdoms MANY tdrsesj
To all estates, Inevitable losses
To herdsmen, rot to ploughmen, hapless sea
sons;
To sailors, storms to cities, civil treason. "
The curses and losses we are now
having] ... .. ..a..
Thus the comet Of 40 B. O.. which
appeared just after the assassination
Of Julius Caesar. was looked upon by
the Romans as o celestrial chariot
sent to convey his soul heavenward.
The term comet signifies hairy
body. A comet consists usually of
three parts the nucleus. a bright
point in the centre of the head the
coma IA hair), the cloud-like mass
surrounding the nucleusj and the tail,
a luminous train extending general
ly in direction from the sun. There
are comets without the tail, and 9TH
ers with several, while some are de-
priyed of even the nucleus. Comets
are not confined, like the planets, to
the limits of the zodiac, but appear
in every quarter Of the heavens, and
move in every conceivable direction.
When first seen, the comet resembles
a faint spot Of light upon the dark
background of the sky: as it ap-
oroaohes the sun the brightness in
,reases, and the tail begins to show
tself. Generally it is brightest near |
and gradually fades
iway as it records, until it is fual y
ost, even to the telescope.
Kepler remarks that there are as |
many comets In the heavens as fish in |
he sea-" Arago has estimated that
here are 17,5O0,0OO with In the So
ar system, basing his calculations
IN the number known to exist be-
ween the sun and Mercury. Ofthis
'ast number, few are visible 10 the
,aked eye, and a still less number at
fact observation, owing to their
Inferior size and brllliancy. Many
re doubtless loss to our sight being
bove the horizon in the daytime.
seneca mentions that during total
olar eclipse, larger and splendid
omet suddenly made its appearance
lear the sun.
Comets form part of the solar
ystem, and are subject to the laws
# gravitation. Like the planets,
hey revolve around the sun, but they
Iiffer in the form OF their orbits.
While the planets move in paths
'arying little from circular, and thus
ever depart so far from tb 9 sun as
o be invisible to us, the comets trav-
| in extremely elongated (aattened) |
llipses, 50 that they can be observed
y US only through very small por-
ion Of their paths. ..r
The quantity Of matter contained
n a comet in exceedingly small
Telescope stars even ore visible
through them. TSe comet OF ITO
,ecame entangled among Jupiter's
Moons, and remained there four
months without interfering With their
movements In the least indeed, so
ar from that, Its own orbit was much
hannad hy the collision. that from a