Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-07-15
RESULT OF WATCHING THE
COMET.
Professor Diapers Correspond.
ence-.The Comet Not Divided
SpeculaliOns About the Fate of
the Solar System.

Professor Diapers Correspond.
ence--The Comet Not Divided
SpeculatiOns About the Fate Of
the Solar system.
N. Y. Tribune
Professor Draper is gathering the
usual harvest which publicly yields
IN the shape of multitude of letters
from strangers in all parts of the
country. One man sent four postage
stamps from Cheyenne, Wyoming,
with request that the Professor
would send him a photograph of the
comet at his earliest convenience.
DR.. Diapers CO. dependence with
several English men of science,
however, promises to be of consid-
cradle interest. He is in communi-
cation, at the same time, with Pro
lessor Young, of Princeton. whose
experiments with the spectroscope
DIR. Draper believes to be a further
corrobora ion of his own conclu-
sions.
One question Professor Draper
declares he has settled forever. Last
Tnur-day in photographing the
spectrum Of very bright voltaic
arc he exposed his face for some time
to the electric light, and the conse>
quence was 'sun- burned face
that came very near combining him to
his room for twenty-four hours.
Whatever may be true of the spec
trum, he is certain that the electric
light will burn the skin. A com-
parlson of the spectrum of the vol
taic arc with that of the comet con-
firms DR.. Diapers opinion that there
is some compound of carbon in the
comet. He is not ready to conclude
from the fact that the hydro -carbons
on the earth are all the result of de-
cayed organic matter that the hydro
carbons in the comet are necessarily
Of the same origin, since the condi-
tons in a body so highly heated are
much modified, and indeed, hydro
carbons can be produced in the
laboratory by artificial means.
The report made week ago by
Professors Stone and Wilson, of Gin
cinnati, that the comet had split in
two has not been confirmed, and
though DR.. Draper is unwilling to
make a positive assertion on nega-
tive evidence, he has examined the
retreating star with some care,and is
unable to find any sign of break in
its continuity. Regarding the calm
of William Higgins, the London
spectroscopist, that he identified
the bands of the solar spectrum in
The photograph of the comets spec
trum which he obtained on the morn
ing of June "a, Professor Draper is
inclined to believe that the dark
bands referred to were the effect of
the twilight which, in the latitude of
England, is absent only a very short
time from the sunmer skies at night.
The matter is of some Importance,
since if the lines of the suns spec
trum are really present, the tail of
the comet must shine partly at least
by reflected light. Professor Draper
is confident that the observations
taken in this latitude and atmos-
phere are quite as trustworthy as
those reported from London.
HAS the comet changed in ap-
pearance?" asked a reporter.
1t has faded very much, so that
L do not expect to make any more
observations except as a matter of
curiosity. The activity of the head
is very much diminished, and the
coma and tail are still contrac' ing.
The repulsive force which pushes the
tail away from the sun grows less as
the distance of the comet from the
sun Increases, and the tail naturally
shor ems on that account. No doubt,
a considerable part of the tail will
never return to he nucleus, but will
escape altogether from the influence
OF its attraction for, unlike the
sheep OF nursery renown, comets
very seldom bring their tails behind
them.
This comet has been, on the
whole, an excellent subject for OBJ
servation, and the results have OBJ
tanned are far beyond my expecta-
tions. There seems to be no reason
why we should not at any time fall
in with comet far larger than any
that has ever appeared. It is we'll
known that the interstellar spaces
are thronged with isolated bodies of
all sizes, from that of a shooting
star, which is dissipated by a short
Eight through the air, to
that Of the largest comet
how much larger some of the
floating spheres may be it is vain to
conjecture. Now the sun is moving
through space at the rate of from
twenty to forty miles a second, and
nay at any time fall in with body
of lnconceivable size, which, being
trawn toward it and rendered lumin
Jus by its heat, would be turned from
dark, invisible mass into a radiant |
omet. Indeed, it is pretty nearly
ertain that in the course of Time our
un will run foul of some other sys-
EN- of stars, which will bring the
olar system to an end. It is
lot impossible that our system,
mould it fall in with sun of sufi-
nro%