Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-07-02
THE COMET.

Louisville, June 27.-Prof. Klein OF
Hartford, Ky, claims that he discover
ed the comet now attracting attention
last September. In a letter, published
in the Courier journal he says:
This so-calied newly discovered COM
ct may be new to the world at large
but it is not new to me-, 81 I have
been gazing upon this very comet ever
since last September. You will remem-
Der that I told you In my letter that it
would be visible to the naked eye in
June or July, 1881, and that it would
not be seen again for seventy-nine years
Furthermore, it is not the comet OF 1919.
but it Is the comet of 1888, which
was the supposed cause of the terrific
atmospherical disturbance OF that year.
l feel that l know more about this com.
ct than any other astronomer, as l have
nursed it. as it were, from its first ap.
pearance until the present, and l know
my comet by sight just as a father
would know his children by seeing
them. Prot. Swift, and other eminent
scientists. have written to me in regard
to 1t from time to time yer since last
fall"
The Courier Journal OF September s
contained an account of the discovery oil
this comet by Prot. Klein. in which be
at that time said: 81 am Of opinion that
the earth passed through the tail of this
comet, and that its vapors 80 permeated
our atmosphere here as to be the direct
cause OF recent unprecedented rainfall
all over the country. 1 believe it is the
cause of the great snow storm on the
lakes early in the fall. Indeed the tail
of the comet may have swept all over
that portion of the continent. Many
of the recent hurricanes can, l think, be
accounted for II we accept the above
theory"
Washington, June 27.-The Compile
Rendus. The Official organ OF the acade.
Naval observatory to-day. contains a dis
May 20, announcing the discovery of a
comet in right ascension 8 hours 2 min
utes, declination south 81 hours Is mln-
utes, moving northward. This disoov-
cry was made two days before DR..
Gould's alleged discovery. and the Off
cial astronomers here say that 1t is un-
doubtedly the same comet. BY some
oversight the message from Brazil has
not heretofore been published outside oil
France.
New York, June 27.-Ross of the
Dudley observatory says the comet now
visible ia neither the comet of 1912 nor
that of 1907 that it is the one lately
zen by observers in South America.
Cleveland, o., June 2S.-The distin-
guished astronomer, Prot. j. N. Stock
well OF the Case school of Applied
Science, this city, makes the following
statement OF his observations OF the
comet. "On the evenings of June 24th,
25th and Goth I had the good fortune
to get observations OF Its position with
sufficient precision to enable me to de-
termlne approximately its path through
space. The elements of its object, deriv-
ed from these observations, ale very
similar to the elements of q comet which
appeared IN 1907, and render it some
what probable it may be the return of
that comet. We cannot, however, pro-
nounce with certainty On that point un.
til observations extending i've q much
longer period be made and carefully
discussed. II we trace the path of the
comet back to June 1st we find it then
had q right ascension Of about five hours,
and that its direction was nearly forty
degrees south. In this position it could
be well observed in the southern hemis.
phere and is very probably the comet
observed by Dr.tGould at Candova in
the Argentine Republic June LIST. Its
distance from the earth was then A.
600, 900 Of miles. From that point it
travelled directly north and passed q lit
tie westward of the sun June 18th
at a distance of 81. 900, 900 miles from
the earth. 1t reached its perihelion.
23rd, when it was about ~. OOO.-
900 miles from the sun and 23,OO0,-
900 from the earth. June % il was
1000, 900 miles from the earth and re-
ceding at the rate OF 100000 miles
daily. July 10th 1t will be within
about
TEN DEGREES OF THE NORTH STAR,
and It's distance will be more than So.
O00, 600 miles from the earth. The d.
mensions of this comet are very great.
The diameter Of a portion OF the head
cannot be less than 10, 900 miles, while
nebuloslty surrounding it canno
less than three times as great. The
sa the tail must exceed g..
O00, 900 miles. The comet has been in
our skies during a month past, and it
Is proper to inquire why it was not
seen before. According to our COM
putation, it came from the southern
hemisphere. almost in a line with the
sun SO it rose above the horizon in the
after sunrise, and sank below the
In the west before sunset. 1t
was. therefore above our horizon only
by daylight until after June goth, at
which time it was 30 near the sun it was
enveloped in twilight while above the
horizon; bnt Its rapid motion north
carried it in three days so far from
The a that it remained above the hori-
ION until the disappearance of twilight,
and IN the meantime it had passed
its perihelion, and appeared as
: fully developed comet of magnificent
when first discovered in the
northern hemisphere. 1t is and has been
rapidly fainter since it was
irst discovered, and it will continue to
10 so until its final disappearance. 1t
will probably disappear to the naked
aye within a couple of weeks. but it is
probable that it IA be followed with
The telescope during a couple OF months.