The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-10
Il HE
" COMETS AND METE-
% raor bee tORS." - las
urcTOpTcAT. COMETS


PROFESSOR PROCTOR AT MASONIC HA1L-THE
TALE OF A COMET AS PICTURED BY HIM
THE THEORY OF " REPUISIoN" &C.-HOW
PLANETS " SHAKE" THBIR METEoRIC REL
ATTvEs AND LRAvE THEM TO sHIFr FOR D
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. WORTH KNOW
ING.
A large audience, considering the terrific (
tempest raging, assembled last night at Ma \
sonic hall, to the second lecture by Profess /
sor X. A. Proctor. Mr.. Proctor has deliver
ed two lectures in Bloomington since his
last one here; one Monday night, and sec
ond one Tuesday morning. His subject
last evening was Comets and Meteors,"
an interesting one, and attentively
listened to by those present. The lecture
was illustrated by series ofdiagrams show |
ing the most prominent comets, ancient and
modern, the different appearance presented
by them as seen by French, English and
American astronomers. The comets OF 1911,
1861, 1885, 1858, Encke's famous one, the six |
tailedS and others were among some of the
numerous ones noticed. The lecturer touch
ed upon the humorous phases incl
dent to the announcement OF the
approach of comets, which transpired in the
last and also the present century. In the
former. about III, the approach Of comet
being predicted, tickets were sold In Parls,
admitting to seats las though to the opera or
playl which insured immunity from any
pad result, even in the event of the comets
striking the earth and destroying it. So
great was the ignorance of the masses then
that hundreds bought tickets thinking
there was actually saving power
in so doing. After considering the
subject of meteors, as distinct from
comets, the diagrams were removed, and the
lights being turned down, the illustrations
from plates were thrown on the screen, by
L uroh and yQrN enthusiastically we'll
The lecturer, after brief general introduc
| tiop of the subject, testifying to the perse-
verance of those present, in Drawing the
elements, ETC., passed in review the inter
esting subject Of comets and meteors as iol-
| lows, saying:
We have to begin with, the great wonder
! that comets and meteors should in any way
/ be associated, they are so unlike each other.
! Comets are very large bodies, much exceed
ing the sun in magnitude and the largest OF
| the stars, and having that mysterious faculty
| that they possess of coming from fathOmless
depths of space, after journeys which must
| have lasted over millions OF years, rushing up
toward the sun, passing close around him,
and then passing away with no hint as to
what depths of space they will fly to. 1t is a
strange fact that we should lave to associate
with bodies like meteOrs, so small in dimen-
sious that a child could in many cases carry
tnem bodies so large that our sun sinks into
insigniicance in comparison with them.
THE COMETS COURSE EXPLAINED BY GRAVITY.
Now let us pass to the facts most impor-
tant in this matter. Again, remind you
that 1 am obliged to leave out the facts
dealt with in our textbooks of astrono-
my, to take the more striking facts associ-
ated with the views taken by astronomers
OF the present day. To begin with comets.
We have in the first place the fact that COM
i ok, nd Oft 81
4 ing almost directly toward the sun for a long
period of time, circle around him, and pass
away again into the depths of space. There
is fact which seems at first to remove them
from all the ordinary laws of motion, GER
tainly all the laws presented by the plane-
tary system; but it was precisely in that, es-
pecially, that comets first gave astronomers
proof that there was no resisting the truth
of the law of gravity. Newton took the COM
ct of 1860, and having found that it was
travelling on parabofic cOurse-better de-
scribed as an exceedingly long oval-was
able TO say that thatcomet would follow such
and such a course, although its orbit was of
an entirely different nature from the planets
and continually changing day by day. Yet
he said: " will follow that body and tell
precisely where it will go;" and it was this
mastery of Newton over the laws OF ce-
lestial motion that first convinced astrono-
mers OF the truth of the laws of
gravity. The comet came and followed the
precise path that Newton suggested. Let us
see how the comet moved. 1t came travelling
up toward the sun, seeming to move directly
toward him, marked among all comets by
the direetness of it's path toward the sun.
When it was within sixth part of the sum
diameter it circled around him and then
passed away on a track precisely like that
on which it had arrived. Like all other
comets of distinction it had long tail, and
as it approached the sun, the tail extended,
according to the known laws OF comets
! away from the sun, and was thus carried
3 behind the comet; but as the comet passed
Q around the sun-and passed around it in a
few hours-when it was seen on the other
? side, long tall cannot call il the same
C tail-a long tail 90,000,0O0 miles in extent
9 was seen, no longer carried behind the COM
3 ct, but travelling now in front of it; and in
4 the day or two that that comet was lost
sight of, that long tail was thrown out by
the retreating comet. Now that comet had
I taken four weeks in approaching the sun
! over distance of 90,000,0O0 miles, though
having, at starting, all the velocity with
! which it had arrived; but in less than -four
: days that tail, 90,G00,000 miles long, was
thrown out in front of the body.
I COMET OF 1850.
? There is a fact which either shows us we
have to deal, as to comets tail, with mat
ter which has not been formed in reality but
is some way made to become apparent to us
or else we have to deal with a force incom-
+ para1ly greater than gravity. This repul-
{ sive force of the sun seems incomparably
! greater than that of gravity. Gravity had
l led that comet over distance of $4,000 O0C
miles in four weeks, and it threw out its tail
in four days. There is the first evidence OF
3 this mighty repulsive force OF the sun. The
comet came so close to the sun--a distance
} only the l60th part of that which separates
/ our earth from the sun-that the heat TO
3 which it was exposed was %, 800 times great
: or than the heat endured by our earth. There
) then was a heat which we might very well
imagine would destroy the very substance
} ofour elements. All the materials on our
! earth would, under such heat, be vapor-
lied. Newton assigned path TO the comet
3 of 1880, but was not able to assign period
3 to it. He was not able to say for how long a