The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-07-02
DOUBTS As TO ITS IDENTITY.

The comet of 1870, was discovered by
Poas. in MarSeilles. France. September
-, 1907 and was followed for more than
six months. The scientists CT that time
made some very careful observations of
it and calculated that its orbit was so
immense as to cover Il period of /. 100
years. In that calculation all astrono-
mers have since copcurrcd. How. then.
it could have returned after Il period of
Il years is problem which many astrono-
merS seem unable to solve. 1t is argued.
by those who maintain that the comet of
1907 and that discovered by Or. Gould
four weeks ago are idcntial with the pres
ent one. that the comet Of $50. might
haye passed in the vicinity of two larger
planets. but this assumption is open to
grave objections. When DR.. William
llerschcl made u careful examination of
ii ON October * he found that The tail
wa. three degrees Ind three lGagtc:s
long. but # rapidly diminished, until by
December IL it was very short. There
is now one way OF solving the question
as to the identity of these comets. 1t
can he ascertalncd. if The observations
i'll progress prove successful. whether
they are in the same orbit DR. Gould.
in his first dispatch ANNOUNCING his dis
covery. made Z 5tatement .l:;s ;. was
YER: ..t... .,.c s.Gn,. OF tnat of iHos. and
the Emperor of Brazil mentioned that
point in his telegram to the French Acad-
emv Certain it is however. that from
all the facts thus far collected the resent
blance between the two comets is very
slight indeed. 1t may turn out that with
the admitted fact distance of {; G de
nxiS-nI l,n+. ',rn,t Of tbn
present comet when discovered and that
of 1907 may after all he 4 case of two
comets travelling in nearly the same orbit
rather than return of the same comet.
At so remote period as 81 b. G., ..,,-
corling to Diordorus Siurlt,s, iLe,e was
a comet presa~ing lie ,,e&trJ, ctiGn Of the
cities Ct Iie,,STj nd HNris. H. the year
l:ti B. C., there appeared another comet
TEN TIMES GREATER THAN TIE Sun.
Then there were others in the years \.
ID. ll06, 1864. HOP ll5G, 1871. and 11,i.
The Seventeenth century was 4 great time
for the comets. Large ones were soon IN
1904 1913. 1861. 1G'r. ',.,,u- aud 1859.
The en-, C., lo,,! Was, it is said, as
bright as the halt moon, while the great
comet of 1850 with tail ninety-SiX mil
lion miles long, enabled Sir Isaac New
ton to demonstrate that comets are guild
ed by the same principle that uci,,.olS
the course of the planet. 70 the comet
of 1859 the astro.;cni',i Haley save his
owl, ..>,uc. ;t:tel No idh proved it To be
identical with the great comets of 1871
and 1907. aud predicted its return in
| 80. which was fulfilled. He thus estab-
lished the principle that the orbits of
comets can be determined, the periods of
their revolutions calculateI -. The
times of thei" &,ltr.n4 predicted
t,I..t great comets were seen in l14i.
1863, 1911, and 1913. The last named
was probably with that of 1859: it was
visible i'll broad daylight. without the
aid of glasses, and approached to within
600, 600 miles Of the sun, being the dos
est " shave on record. DcEali,. comet
appeared III i, a,,i "a, t>i..a, hahly
!rill ,.rl,.. ita period OF revolution is 1850
Years, So that those who missed seeing
it then will probably not have another
opportunity. Other large comets were
seen i'll 1861 and 1874
The perfect comet combines -, ,euS
and train. The beauty lcloEgs 20 the
train, which is urSUt stantial and tenn
porary, while lhG mass and density re
side IN tne almost invisible but perna-
nent nucleus. The solid nucleus moves
about HE sun in a nearly paEaholic orbit,