Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-07-23


third week in August its tail began to
be developed, a series of nebulous en-
velopes being formed about the nucleus,
blending together on the side opposite
the sun and streaming out its tail. Dur
ing the first week In October the nu-
cleus was as bright as Arcturus, near
which it passed, and bore a train of
great briliancy more than twenty de-
grees in length. 1t approached to
distance from the sun less than that of
Venus and receded to an incalculable
distance, so that it is not known whether
it has been seen at any previous APP
proach to the earth.
Among the comets most remarkable
either for great splendor or enormous
real dimensions in recent times must be
mentioned those of 1850, 1907, 1911,
1915, 1919, 1926, 1S43, 1847, 1858 and
1861. Among the most remarkable
phenomena presented by individual
comets we may mention the six tails of
the great comet of IVA, and the divis-
ion of Biela's comet into two distinct
comets, each having coma, nucleus and
tail. At the return of Biela's comet in
1852 both comets were still visible in
the same telescope field of view. The
perihelion passage of 1859 took
place Of at alD under circum-
stances unfayorable for observation.
The return of 1865 sheuld have been
readily observable, but the comet was
not seen, nor has it since made its ap-
pearance, unless one of the bodies now
attracting so many eyes heayenward
should have some connection with it.
In regard to the non-appearance of
Biela's comet, Sir John Herschel asks :
"Can it have come in contact with
some asteroid as yet undiscovered, or,
peradventure, plunged into and got be-
wildered among the ring of meteorites,
which astronomers more than suspect ?"
The recent discovery of the fact thatthe
November and August meteor system
follow in the track of two comets (the
November meteors following the teles-
copic comet November l, 1866, and
the August meteors following the con-
spicuous comet of 1862 has led to some
interesting speculations respecting the
nature of comets and meteOrs.
The wonderful "War Comet" of 1861
sprang so suddenly upon the people in
this latitute, and with such unexampled
brilliancy and magnitude, as to astonish
our scientific men and brighten the
timid The civil war, then just inaugu-
rated, must have something to do with
1t of course. But unhe ralded and un-
invited it burst forth With all its heav-
emily beauty, demanding universal ad-
miration.
On the night of July 3, a light haze
partly covered it, but as the night ad
vanced it grew more brilliant, and the
wavy tail heightened itself and became
beautifully defined against the dark
blue OF the sky. The nucleus did NOT
appear of that magnitude, according to
the description in the local papers, that
many declared it to be, being only that
of star of the second magnitude. Ii
seemed to attain its greatest size and
brightness as the small hours of the
morning approached, the nucleus visi-
bly, increasing in size, and the tail
throwing its rays still further toward its
zenith. The opinion generally ex-
pressed was that it was not equal to
Donati's comet, while many considered
culed the idea of its not being seen
since 1866. All surmises were, howev-
er, subsequently set at rest by the dis
covery that it was the Thatcher comet,
discovered on the 4th of April, 1861, at
Mr.. Rutherford's observatory, in New
York, by Prof. A. F. Thatcher, of this
city. According to a report made at the
Cambridge Observatory July 5, 1861,
the comet appears to have passed its
ascending node between the 9th and
28th of June, in longitude 279 degrees,
the longitude of the earth then being
277. The inclination Of this orbit to
that of the earth is Sc degrees, or very
nearly the greatest possible. On the
2Sth of June the distance to the earth
from the head of the comet appears to
have been only about IL, 900, 900 miles,
and that from the tail considerably less.
The comet sent off its envelopes once a
day, or four or five times these concen-
trio arches were conglomerate, and
formed a hood, halo, or brilliant bow
over the nucleus. Indeed, the halo APP
peared larger than a semi-circle, even
nearer the sweep of an entire circle. 1t
certainly closed in until the dark axis
prevented its further penetration OF
progress toward the formation of a
whole periphery. On the 10th of Octo-
Der its train extended over $4,000, 00O
miles in length, and exhibited spread
of 10, 900, 600 in width. Both these di-
mansions varied two minutes or two and
one-half minutes, but with good glass
it was readily recognized. Referring
to this comet, Boston paper remarked
that, although it had been far inferior
in brilliancy to that of the previous year,
or to the ever-memorable one of Donati
in 1858, yet it was a large one compared
with others. Only one In six of the
comets which are observed ever become
visible to the naked eye, and during the
present century not more than half q
dozen have appeared which have been
larger than Tuttle's. This comet attract
ed great deal of attention from Eu-
ropean astronomers.
The comet hoax Of 1872 will be re.
membered as the occasion of considera.
BILE excitement among the people of this
locality, as upon the 18th day of August
in that year. it had been predicted 10y o
French philosopher named Plantaneur,
that the world would be burned up and
Al