The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-03-27
COMETS AND METEORS.

exceeding the sun in magnitude, and
having the mysterious faculty of COM
ing from fathomless depths of sp ce,
after journeys which must have lasted
over millions of years, rushing up to-
ward the sun, passing around him, and
then passing away with no hint as to
what depth Of space they Will fly to, and
yet we are compelled to associate with
them bodies like meteors so small in di-
meRsion that 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 for /
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 proof that there was no resist |
ing the truth of the law of gravity.
Newton comet, as the comet of 1850
is called, was chosen by that astrono-
mer to demonstrate the theory of gray
station. He discovered its precise
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 c'rcled around
him and then passed away on track
precisely like that on which it had ar
rived. Like all other comets of dis
tinction it had long tail, and as it APP
preached 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 q long tail, &c.,
O00,000 miles in extent, was seen, no
longer carried behind the comet, but
travelling now in front of it, and in
daV or two that comet was lost sight of,
. that long tail was thrown out.
Halley'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 n tail and only to be distin-
guished from star by its position and
course, but seemed to struggle to throw
out new tail, and during the fveweeks
which 1t was visible Inconsistencies
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
gas which, like the vapor of water, is
invisible when the temperature mounts
above given point, but which becomes
visible when condensed.
Lexel's comet, named after the as
tronomer who discovered it, had a
period of five and one-half years, and
astronomers thought that from it they
would discover many hitherto unknown
facts in reference to those 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 aud sent into
the realm of space. Astronomers traced
is back and calculated its path and
found that the same hand which sent
~ Io.I Sv1NT. Cd -
That comet, in 1867, approached quite
close to Jupiter-so close, In fact, as to
intrude itself among its satellites.
Jupiter compelled it to follow another
course. At the end of eleven yeai s,
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. It
had gone into the midst of Jupiter
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 still travel
ing the path they had before that comet
had arrived, and we learn, therefore,
that the comet at any rate was mere
vapor and had no power or weight,
although it was much larger even than
Jupiter.
Epckes comet, as the comet of 1S4e
is called, travels the shortest period OF
any comet we knew of-three and one
half years-aHd permits such close OBJ
selvoton that it has been determined
exactly how much it is retarded by the
ether which fills space, and this very
retardation, by subiecting it more
strongly to the influence of the sun
gives it a greater actual velocity, while
its orbit continually diminishes il
size.
BieIa's comet was discovered in 1926
and a period of six years and eighr
months was assigned to it. Its patti
crossed that of the earth, and many per
sons thought that in 1882 a collision
would follow which would work meal
culable evil, but that result did not en-
sue, and nothing was seen of it until
1916, when il 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 were communication between
them. They were a kind of Siamese
twins. Thoy passed iutO spuce, and as
tronomers thought they could watch
them again and ascertain how they were
ssparated, but they were never seen
again.
Donati'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 moi
take place instantly; that the head OF
the comet consisted of two kinds OF
matter-one WAS lepelled with n.oder
ate velocity, very great but moderate
by comparison, and the other repealed
with great velocity, and so swept of in
to straight line. 1t would be mani
fest, that being the case, since there
was separation OF the matter in the
comets tai, that il the comets head
was complicated IN structure there
would be an intermixturs of the two
kinds of matter, and the portion more
readily repealed would escape the frs
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 a different conclusion. One fact
was that the meteoTs occurred in show
ers on certain days. SIS for instance the
showers of November 13, which are cal
culated with the most wonderful accu
racy. The period OF the meteor streams
is a third Of a century. That was the
actual time when the last great display
took place, Arsgo being one of the as.
tronomers WHO described it most close
", and Humboldt described another