The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1881-06-30

the possibility that ii may be photo
erapbed, and, secondly, from the facil-
tiles which II affords for spectrum
analysis. No comet has ever been
phOtasernphed, bat / have aplaratus
ready mr. IN sttenSpt tonight ] have
alfeely succeeded In phot0graphing
nebuls In Ori0n, which NO one ever
az before. nor, Indeed, aller me, and
Tonight I hope 10 get the; 6rst impses-
sion Of the comet I like to get q dig
ut those fellows scross the waters, you
see. The tail Of this comet Is very
vOluminOus, thus increasing the facil-
tiles for obtaining spectrum analysis"
Is the comet to destroy the world
this year,"
"A comet IL Of such subtle consist
ency 1t would probably he dissipated
by the atmosphere before IL reached
the earth. The nucleus might possibly
make little splash where il struck,
but there II not the faintest danger 20
he. apprehended. Mother ShiptOn
doubtless selected 1881 Ut randonl. Ii
Il the opinion Of physicists that the
matter Of which the earth II composed
Il eternal"
The sky 1t I this morning was clear
and Prof. Diapers experiments, there
fore, which are dependent upon the
weather, must have etOOd fair chance
Of suc,ess
PROB. srOCKwELL's OBSERVATIONS.
CLEVELAND, June 29.-The distin-
guished astronomer, Prof J. n. Stock
well, Of this city, makes the following
statement Of his observations Of the
comet. on the evenings Of June a, %
and 25: had the good fortune to get
observations Of its position with suflic-
lent precision to enable me to determ-
Inc approximately its path through
space. The elements Of its orbit, de-
rived from these observations, are very
similar to the element ola comet which
appeared In 1907, which renders 1t
probable that IL may be the return Of
that comet. We can not, however.
pronounce with certainty on that
point, until observations extending
over y much larger period have been
made and carefully discussed. II we
trace the path of the comet back to
June I, We find it then had right as
censiOn Of about 1--WE hours, and that
its declipation was nearly forty degrees
south. In this position Il could be well
OusctNcu 1u TIE souttbcIu hcsusoptsCse,
and Is very probably the same comet
observed by DIR. Gould. at Car,loba, in
the Argentine Republic, June ]. Its
distance was then n, OOO, NU Of miles.
From that point II travelled directly
north, and passed little To the west
ward Of the sun June -, at u distance
Of Il ~, 100 Of miles from the earth.
1t reached its periheliOn June q, when
II was about 5000, 90 Of miles from
the sun, aud -, NM, OOO Of miles from
the earth June % il MAS 1900 40 Of
miles from the earth, and has from
that date been receding ut the rate of
], 30O, 900 miles daily. On June 10 1t
will be within about 10 degrees Of the
north star, and the distance will be
more than 50, 600, 900 Of miles from the
earth. The dimensions Of this comet
are very great. The diameter Of a pOr
ton of the head can not be less than
III, 90 miles, while the nebulOsity sur
rounding ii can not he less than three
times a. great, The length Of thu tail
must exceed six millions of miles. The
comet has been In our skies during
month past, and it Is proper to inquire
why ii has not been seen before. Ac-
cOrding to our computation 1t came
from the southern hemisphere, almost
In line with the sun. sd Il arose above
the horizon in the East after sunrise,
and sunk below the horizon In the
West before sunset. II was therefore
above our horizon only by daylight
until after June -, at which time il
was so near the sun that 1t was envel-
Oped in twilight while above the hori-
ION, but its rapid motion northward
carried ii In three days SO far from the
sun that il remained above the horizon
until the disappearance Of twilight,
and in the meantime ii had passed |
through its periheliOn and appeared |
as fully developed comet Of 'magnifi |
cent dimensions, when first discovered |
In the northern hemisphere. II Is and |
has been growing rapidly fainter since
II was first discovered, aud Il will con-
tinue to do 81 until its final disappear
snce. 1t will probably disappear to
the naked eye within couple Of
weeks, hut II Is probable that II can be |
followed with the telescope during q
of months.