New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-02
SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPL E.
rHE nREAT SOUTHERN COMET.


Dr B.A. Gould. of the Cordova Observatory
who discovered the great Southern, comet Oh
February last has an interesting article upon
it in the May number OF the Ihe AMe'atC tnt
Journal of Science. The comets tau was mI5T
seen on February .. On the 4th DIR. GOuid
first saw the head which seemed scarcely
brighter than Enclle's comet at its last perlne.
lion. Int Was much larger, and had coarse
and underlined aspect. NO nucleus WIS ni1 q
ible. The tail was brightest on fepmr;u ay % q
and z. It was then about as brllllang as
the Milky Way'in Taurus, and maIntalnesg us
length of from SO to 400 till it faded from
view. On February 20 the comet c0nid not oe
detected in a ILL inch equatorial. Inc eAc 5
sive lengtb of the narrow tail, Its lack OF graudr
ton IN 6rliancy aud the relative fantnGSss; SO OIL
the head, formed very notable characterls'ics,
But to my establishment. says Dr. G0ulu, OF
computing a parabOla from the ob5eryat.ohs Oh
February 6, and II, found TeprTEuucei, , tmf
orbit of the Great Comet of 1913. The almost
incredibly small perihcli"n distance suggests III
each case the origin of the huge tail put tne
other elements were almost equally snnli'tI. 81
second orbit, from observations from fepIu'nS
q To g. proyed equally similar to the OfDlC Ie
shifting from HubbaIds discussion OF the comet
of 1913 and leaves no doubt WhateVei III niy
mind as 10 the identity OF the Two DOules, noU
WIthstanding that an ellipse of O32 years was
found to afford the best representation VI me Tho
series of observations in 1843 as whole Inc
clements now obtained are these: when ule
expressed in Washington mean time, and re-
fcrred to the mean equinox of 1900
PerihelIOn passage, 1880, JAN 27d40479.
Longitude OF the ascending node: % ~ ~ D.
it 6ginaon OF 1 lS S 49, ss s.
Iogariihm OF the periheiOn distance, 77393Gi4
Dr. Gould further believes that this comet Is
the same as those of 1902, 1885, 177l and
1906, and that the interval between the pere-
beliOn passages has been steadily increasing.
The wonderfully small, and apparently dlmul-
isIing perihcliOn distance affords to DIR. Gould
an explanation of the increasing period fOr'
according to the present elements, this distance
is bui q. OOj49 while the suns own radius Is
O.OO466. Ii seems impossible that one side OF
the coma should not suffer actual friction
against the body OF the sun, to say nothing OF
its traversing the densest portion OF his atmos-
phere through full semi-circumtcrence Inc
mechanical resistance thus interpOsed must
have acted to diminish the pcrlhcl0n distance
and we find this accordingly to have been
o O0553S after the pass &c OF 1S43, ana
O.OOj487 after that Of 1880. YET, while thls
resistance and the lateral friction must during
their continuance be causing dlmlnntiOn OF
the radius-vectOr, it would appear that they
have not diminished, but. on the contrary, III,
creased, the major axis This IS delicate anu
in some respects difficult question:
A most interesting question arises regarding
the densest portion of the tail. There is no
reason TO doubt that this pointed sOuthward
before the perihelion, as 1t did altelward. Now
the comets centre of gravity passed tlOm one
side to the other of the sun, describing nm arc OF
ISOo in true anomaly in about 2h SIN; aud
indeed described l11o ~ III a single hour. II
the tail in general consisted of the same partl-
Giles before as after the hour Of pe1helion, IT
must have been actually severed by the body
of the srn srrrerdcIing Of course a consider
able amount of its material.