The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-06-30

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rection. Its appearance Sunday night was a
surprise, as it was moi expected fT several
,icbts Eus ~ axoIa4
lsT9saE hessi &An& aGtE NasEs sFLT
l. The present comet promises to be the lead
ing sensation forsspmStiiae ts come sowing to
I its size and briilianeS 1T WIZ increase in
splendor and " illsttract the attention of all
These celestial phenomena are by no means
rare, but astronomers, tell US that not one in
hundred come near enough to be visible to tile
naked eye only about five hundred having
been seen without the AID Of telescopes since
the commencement of the Christian era In
this connection it u may be Interesting to some
of our readers to learn What Prof Henry M.
Parkhurst has torsay,f It's distance from tile
earth, he writes, is now about forty million
miles, and from the sun about sixty million
miles, and it is receding from both Conse-
squenuy the nucleus viii not BECOME any. bright
er than at present, but it lis not unlikelyathat
the tail may increase in length and brightness
| for several days. Its apparent motioh'isnow a
little over three degrees per day, almost exactly
howard the north STAR, which was sufficient to
DIltiS ittOVC eLC kouttl
day. and it will not set "a agsin in 0'this
latitude while it. remains visible even to tile
| telescope. 1t could be seen Saturday morning
until about four O'Clock in the bright twilight.
and will be visible at present from eight or
nine O'clock until four every night. y BNt Its
northern motion will rapidly diminish, so that
it will require at least two months TO reach the
: | u
neighborhood ofthe north star, .,,set,. ...s
In 1856, when Donati's comet passed neardlie
bright star Arctlrus, it was during the evening
equal to it in brightness, and yet during the
.dayg while Arcturus could be. easily seen inthe
telescope, the comet was totally invisible The
present comet is equally bright although the
tail has. not yet developed equal length, or
brightness WIZ rf'aiiS eaaa rae iaevi
Prof Sharpless, Of Haverford College, is of
the opinion, that the comet is identical with
thesone which Dr. Gould saw On June1 l. from
the observatory at lBuenos Ayers, and itele,
graphed the discovery to England. Dr. Gould
believes it to be the same great comet Of. 1907
(which excited much interest among. scientists
end not little alarm among the superstitious.
The diameter of its nucleus as measured by
Bessel, the German astronomer, was found to
| be 538 miles. 1t was then taken to be periodic
and calculated by him to return in ,54s years.
The orbits Of the comets are changed, however,
by the attractions Of the planets, and this may
be. the same one. Prot. Sharpless further said
that as the comet approaches the sun its tail
will become greatly elongated, appafehl2 by
some repellant force The head of the comet
becomes more brilliant as the velocity in ;reases.
If the comet is travelling away from the sun the
tail, nucleus and all NAV suddenly disappear.
| Thisis the'frst bright comet since the spec
troscope Has beeIperfected, and this instru
ment, if OPPORTUNITIES are .ggizsn,dKill throw
Jew light on the conapesition of ootz1ts in gen
eral. They are srpgoaed to be comps z<Ipfg glow
ing carbon gas and various meted ics bedies,
comets and meteors being known INC cases
to have the same orbit Coggiasscomet in
1874 wasfrstlseen at Marseiles. Fxance, on
April II, aud it came near enough I'd H world
to scare good many people within 5OO 900
mics, but it finally disab peared in Wv beau
tiful shower,of neteors and has notIbeen seen
since. Comets. gary in size from 80 miles di-
ameter al, the Nucleus to 5000 miles. Their
passage through the ar produces intense heal,
and the world would undoubtedly be scorched
if the comet came within close proximity. In
1864 we passed. through tile tailofa comet, but
the only eVdeneesofthe lumina1y was an at
rnespiieric Inist.s That event ccuffeff twenty
years ago Jlne s9tl, 1867. 'ss1 ,., =
Prof Ormond Stone, ofshe Cincinnati lob
.seryatory, says the comet is .moying rapidly
Enorth. He is quite positive that it is not the
comet Of 1872 but thinks # nay be that Of 1907,
the return OF whiehssas not expected by as
tronomers for seventeen hundred years He
believes It isthesane comet as seen abontJpne
by DR., Gou Id. inl South America, The appa-
rition is exceedingly interesfing,s and wills be
watched every hight BY the corps II asisono-
mers at the Cincinnati Observatory,
n