Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-29

Probably there were not many persons
timid enough to fear that the new comet,
which has been said to be rapidly approach
ing the earth, would really come uncom-
fortably close to It, but If there are any st
all it will undoubtedly be an agreeable re-
lief to their suspense to know that It has
come just IS near to this planet as 1t ever
will and is now whiZz'ng along through
space toward the sun-has actually passed
the earth and Is receding st the rate
of nearly a million miles dav In direction
north by northeast. So says Prof. Sharpless,
of HaverfOrd College, who has been observ-
ing the new conner with particular interest.
He says 1t reached its nearest point to the
| earth yesterdaY-sbout eighty eight millions
of miles. When first discovered by Prof.
Wells, of the Albany University, on March
20, it was one hundred and fifty millions of
miles distant from the earth. It's orbit
carries II much closer to the sun than to the
earth. On June lott will have arrived at its
nearest position to the SUP, calculated to be
about five millions of miles.
II is visible now tc the naked eye, being
in the constellation Cassiopeia, and at mid
night is about midway from the horizon to
Polaris. It will remain visible to the eve
for about two weeks longer, from shortly
after midnight until the break of day. As
seen through the telescope it hiss nucleus
equal in brightness to a star of the seventh
magnitude. Il is OF unusual size, Professor
Sharpess say; how large he has not esti-
mated, but It whisks a tail not less than half
a million miles long.
Professor Sharpless says that the comet is
remarkable. first, for It's exceptional size,
and secondly, because 1t will approach
nearer to the sun than the majority of COM
cts have done. 1t is now on its way down
to the Southern hemisphere. from which 1t
will be best seen, especially from South
America. When seen there 1t will be in its
greatest hrtllianeY, which naturally in
creases as It nesrs the sun. I'm
fortunately the conditions were not so
favorable for observing this comet as they
were for the one Of last summer. The Pro-
fessor says astronomers have agreed upon the
fact that this Is an entirely new comet and
not the comet of 1872 which is announced
TO appear this year. That may appear later.
The orbit of this one differs in too many
respects for 1t to be accepted as that comet.
Professor Sharpless smilingly added that 1t
is safe to say that the comet should not be
blamed for either the irregularity In the
weather, Of which people have been the
victims, nor the oppressive heat. Though 10
former ages comets were regarded
as responsible things, and were &C
cepted as signs sent directly by
the Deity to announce the COM
ing of wars or fatal disease, the degree of
terror WHICH they excited was proportioned
to the s'zs OF the comet or the form and
length of its train. Blela's comet In 1852
created among the less Informed classes
great alarm lest 1t might collide with the
earth, because the astronomers announced
that on particular day part of the earth's
orbit would be included In the nebulosity
of the comet The statement was misun-
derstood by the general public, who thought
a general smashup was imminent.
The principal comets which have passed
closer to the sun than this one will are those
Of 1868, 1880, 1S43 aud $780, They are said
to have actually grazed the solar atmos-
phere or passed through its outermost por-
lions. The nisappTeheusion of an article
by Prof. Proctor on three of these comets,
gave rise to the now oft repeated predic
ton that the unfortunate Inhabitants of the
earth will be consumed in 1897. The dis.
tingushed astronomer argued that mas
much as the orbit OF the comet of 1S43 was
almost identical with that Of 1868, and
that the latter's temperance was due
about 1913, they must be one and the same
and when the comet of 1880 was seen In the
southern hemisphere. 1t correspondent even
more closely with the comet Of 1868 than
the other did. Fhereupon the theory
was formed cut of the admitted fact
that the passage of the planet through
the resisting medium of the atmos-
phere lessened its distance, and hence
accelerated it's velocity that after
thirty-seven wears lin 1897 the time of revo-
luton would be so much lessened at each
successive return that ultimately the comet
would plunge into the sun. Striking the
solar surface with velocity OF three hun
bred and fifty miles q second, the amount of
heat produced by the conclusion and radi-
ated to the earth might raise the tempera-
ture to such degree as to destroy life upon
this planet. The article spoken of was
merely scientific conjec'ur incautiouslY
expressed adelphia Times. May 235.