The Portland daily press., 1881-06-27
THE COMET.
A Luminary of Exceeding Brilliancy.

Friday morning, June 9th, the PRESS an
nounced the appearance of the great comet OF
1881, a comet that could then be seen with the
naked eye in the northeastern horizon. At
the time however of its appearance the general
| public was sunk in slumber. Friday night
was unpropitious for a good glimpse of the
monster but Saturday night all who gazed into
the northern heavens were rewarded. At 10
p. m. it was exceedingly brilliant, its tail
almost suggesting the flame from burning
building, while the nucleus was as bright or
brighter than the brightest planets.
AT the Cambridge Observatory three obser-
vations were made Thursday, Friday and
Saturday, but clouds prevented the obtaining
much valuable information. Late Saturday
afternoon it was determined to take position,
or elements, telegraphed by the Emperor OF
Brazil May 3lst. and uniting that with the two
observations of Friday, compute the elements
OF the present comet, and compare with the
recorded elements of comets Of the past, to
determine as nearly as possible whether the
present is temperance or a newcomer. The
figures in the statement of the elements as OBJ
tanned were very similar to those of the comet
of 1907 but this does not warrant the state
ment that the comet of 1907 and that of 1881
are the same. The present comet differs from
the great comet of 1858 in having worry bright
and small nucleus, and quite irregular coma.
The tail can be best observed, as to its shape
by the naked eye, as its great size prevents its
being all at once seen in the telescope.
: The comet is now moving about 80 day,
and going due north. Saturday night was the
first in which it did not set at all, mounting
steadily higher and higher. Following is
table giving distances in miles of this comet
from the earth and sun at different recent
dates, according to the Cambridge computa-
tions:
Date. Dist. from Dist. from
May % ,,..............75,o 10000 57,ooo,ooo
June 3 ................ IS, 10000 2s.eoo,ooo
June 69OOO,OOO 29,OO0,OOO J
The comet is now growing slowly fainter.
On the 23d inst, or on Thursday last, it was
nearly five times as bright as when first dis 1
sun, and is thus greatly foreshortened, and
must really be several times larger than it ap-
pears.
The comet is now moving away from the
earth (these are the conclusions current at the
Cambridge observatory at the rate of 300, 600
miles day. 1t will probably be visible for
several months, and will without doubt be
conspicuous during the time to the naked eye.
It reached its maximum OF brightness ON
Thursday night last Its nucleus is probably
1000 miles in diameter, and the inner head at
the envelope 1900, while the coma is vastly
more than that. The tail is at least 10000
miles in length. These computations were
made by Mr.. S. G. Chandler, of the staff of
the Cambridge observatory, who has had
great experience in such matters, and whose
name will be found frequently among the re-
cords of authorities and works of reference.
Special observations that are to be made at
the Cambridge observatory, which, so far as is
known, will not be made elsewhere, are as to
the brightness of different parts of the tail of
composition to burning carbon. This light
can only be determined by the use OF the
spectroscope; but the clouds have SO far pre-
cluded the use of the latter at Cambridge
since the present comet appeared.