The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1880-04-30

Comets present some OF the most in
teresting problems aud strangest con-
irasts that astronomers are called upon
to study. They are the largest bodies,
though not the most massive, and yet
we find them associated intimately with
the smallest of the heavenly bodies,
the meteors, some of which are not
more than . grain in weight. They
give most exact opportunities tor study
and behave precisely in accordance
with the laws of gravity in their paths.
The vagaries of comets tails, however,
are beyond the power of man as yet to
understand. If airy one can Interpret
these he will gain a lasting fame
in science. The action of the tail is
profound MYSTERY. a comet approaches
the sun with It's tail spreading ont
millions of miles behind it; goes around
the sun and goes of into space with
the rigidity of an iron rod, the tail
having swept around aud going off in
front of il.
THE FIRST COMET
Accurately studied came very opper-
tunely. It was in 1880, when New
ton was explaining the laws of gravity,
BY calculating and predicting that this
body, which, with tremendous velocity,
straight into the san, would pass around
it and disappear, and by proving by
observation that his theory was true,
he created profounder impression than
by any of his previous discoveries. /:
swept around the eun with q continual
ly increasing velocity and passed off
with its tail In front OF il. 1t was out of
sight for four days, and when it reap
peared its tail was reversed, but Shav-
ing the same enormous length as before.
It could not have been the same tail,
as the tremendous mass could not have
swept around in that time. It was a
new formation which must have been
formed in those tour days. If we be-
lieve that this new tail was proflueed
! by some force of repulsion we must be-
Iieve that the sun possesses power of
repulsion greater than its power of at
traction. There is no satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION of the phenomenon. Tate OF
Edinburg advanced one which Prot
Thompson adopted that the tail was
composed of particles of matter which
when they came into the same plane
with the eye, presented the appearance
of
LONG TRACK,
, Before invisible because ont of the
plane of the eye. The same principle e
that makes flock of birds at distance
Invisible at one time and visible at an
ier It is easy to announce such 9
theory, but difficult to prove it true
and venture to say there has never
been one comet whose tail could be ex
planned on that theory.
1yHO3ll mas al interesting NhGOs
born of his discovery that there arr
: certain vapors which under the electri'
spark become luminous. he allowed
a very small portion Of the vapor Q
iodide of potassium to enter the tnbe
= and passing the spark through, got
luminous appearance. He then swep
: the tube with dry air, and with th'
very faint portion of the vapor that re
manned after that he still got a lnmiu
ous result with the spark. He hencs
! concluded the comet 60 be luminous
J, vapor. This was retuted by the fact
that comsttails were sometimes curved
while the line of light IL this theory b,
true, would always be straight. Il
1852 comet appeared, since called
HALLEY's COMET.
Halley spplied Newtcs's principles apt
methods and calculated It's path to se'
if apy other comet bsd followed tba
? path. Goingsback he found that il