Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-07-01
Norfolk, Va, June %. 81.
Professor Winston and the Comet.

Professor Winston and the Comet.
Editors Dispatch: We were all both SUR
prised and delighted to find on Sunday
evening last that the comet, which had
been seen on Friday morning, but had
been obscured by clouds on both Saturday
and Sunday mornings, had so far moved
as to be easily visible just at sunset. 1t
was a splendid object to look upon. with
its long and brilliant tail, and it was such
a comfort to have it where it could be
seen in the pleasant eventide rather than
in the early morning and at the expense
of our matutinal nap.
This magnificent comet, whose first dis
coverer do not yet know, seems to have
carried out to the full one of the charac-
teristlc features of such bOdies-namely,
it burst upon us wholly without notice
Nobody-not the most skilled astronomer
knows when such a comet is coming,
nor IN what part of the heavens it will
show itself. 1t is true that some few COM
ets-say, ten in all--are of SO short Pc
Rod, and move in orbits that have been so
accurately calculated, that their return to
view can be predicted; but these are gen.
orally very small, telescope bodies, that
make no impression on the public, and are
not to be compared with the really gl0ri
Gus one that now catches every eye as it
blaZes athWart the northern heavens.
AS this new visitant is likely to attract
much attention, cheerfuliy comply with
your request, Messrs. Editors, and jot
down few particulars, almost at random
and in very unscientific phrase, in relation
to comets in general, and as far as can,
to this one particular. l adopt, for brevi-
ty, the pedagogical device of question and
answer:
"Was this comet ever here before, or is
it new one ?'' The probability is that it
was never seen before. "How can astron-
omers tell? They surely cannot recognize
comet by it appearance" No they can
not. for, as a rule, the same comet is con-
ing the time that it is visible. The only
way they can recognize comet is by cal
culating the path it is moving in (which
they can do after carefully watching it for
two or three nights) and then consult ing
their records to see if any other comet was
ever found to be moving in the same path.
why do they change their appearance
so much ?" Well, ayhea aoe see them they
are coming close to the sun, making their
grand tour rapidly around him and hurry
ing away again; and this near approach to
the sun sometimes very close to it, OF
course powerfully affects their condition,
developing the tail, increasing their bril-
liancy. &c.
What is the tail2" That is hard ques-
ton. 1t is always turned dauoy from the
sun, as we see in this one, and it must be
very thin, for stars can beseen through it.
1t is also very long. as one could easily
calculate from its apparent length. The
tail of our present comet must be nlltLlons
of miles in breadth and billions in length;
and yet, they tell us. it may have less mat
ter in it than would furnish load for a
one-horse cart. If matter at all, it is prob
ably matter of uncomfortable thinness, and
is 'boiled away from the comet, and.
like the smoke-column from moving
steamer, never returns to it.
"How is it that this comet is visible at
night now when only few days ago it.
could be seen only in the morning?" When
first seen it was further south and set be-
fore sunset; but it has now moved so far
north that like the Dipper and other stars
near the North starr it does not SCI a! all,
but appears all night.
"DOes the coming of comet mean any
thing particularly, such as war, or bad
crops, or disasters of some kind?" Moth
ing at all, so far as we know.
els there any danger in them2 Might
not one in its rapid motion strike the
earth and set it on fire, or knock it into
OF anything of the sort. The chance of
hitting the earth is not one in a million;
and if it should hit, it might only be as the
stroke of feather upon rock, or at most
it might treat us to pretty display of
meteors.
SIS there any connection between COM
els and meteors?" Y es, it is probable that
meteors-at least those that occur regular
ly in August and November-are the
debris of comets that have passed in the
same orbit.
"How many comets have ever been
seenY' Counting all, including those Wis.,
ible only IN the telescope, about 700 have
been noted since the Christian era; leaving
out these small ones, the number would be
about 500, or say one in four years on the
average.
"When was the last conspicuous One?'
In 1874. think. Then there was one in
1862, another in 1861, and a famous one in
1858. There have been about twenty visi-
BILE to the naked eye during this century.
'What are comets, anyhow?' The head
and particularly the condensed central por-
ton of the head, called the. nucleus, seems
to be a mass Of matter, either gaseous, like
the air, or composed of small separate par
mass of matter obeys the laws of gravity
and moves round the sun-not in nearly
circular path, as the planets do, but in a
path that brings it close to the sun at one
time. and then takes it far, far way, SO
far, indeed, that it may never come back
again.
''Do they shine with their own light, or,
like the planets, with reflected light?-
What does the spectroscope say about
themS" They give some bright lines in
the spectrum-that is, they seem to have
in part light of their own, but the indi-
cations are yet rather uncertain as to the
substances that compose them.
understood, and there is no
mystery about them?' Not at all. There is
mystery everywhere, and there ara various