St. Landry democrat., 1882-10-07
VIEWS OF THE COMET.
Identical With That of 1913 and $50.
IN. O. Times-DelnOcrat.l

StrEatlOD or the new comet. taken ii,
The Naval Observatory at 3 p. NJ, on
Tuesday, Prof. Frisby determined its
position in right ascension Il hours ~
minutes 30 seconds; declination north
90 s 40. Prof. Frisby also observed 1t
before sunrise, and again at ociock
this morning. 1t was very, prominent
object, rising about half and hour De.
lore the sun, and to the southwark OF
it about 100 or 1872. The tau OF 1t a9otI
70 length, was very plainly visible;
The neucleus is very condensed, and
stellar in character, having wings
which curve outward and downward,
he whole presenting the appearance OF
Z. bird in fight. The neucleus is sur.
rounded by an envelope OF light OF
much less intensity. -,
The comet was very plainly seen with
the naked eye after sunrise. when l,foI:
Frisby made the second observation OF
It's position, about 6 Il. H., 1t was very
easily followed with Il telescope. Two
OF mo1e observations of position were,
,ifade by Profs. Skinner, Boss, and
Flint during the forenoon, thus furnish
me a knowledge OF the direction and
tate of its apparent motion. These OBJ
Servations enabled the astronomers to
estimate it's position at the time OF pass
ING the meridian. From these data the
comet was observed with the transit
circle on the meridian by Prof. Win
lock, thus giving the position with an
accuracy unattainable by other methods:
An observation of a comet III broad
daylight with meridian instrument IS
unique. This is one of the few IN
stances in the last hundred years that
this has been done. Wells comet was
+ Ils observed a few months ago at the
Dudley Observatory. The position
from the transit circle observation is
hight ascension II hours, fourteen min
utes 1894 seconds: declination south,
% "a $50. The daily motion OF the
comet is in right ascension minus & mln-
utes seconds; in declination minus
50 IS. The, comet will rise Thursday
morning, September 21, shortly after
) o'clocE, and may be easily discovered
with the naked eye. 1t may be readily
followed in daylight with a good spy
glass, provided the glass is thoroughly
Shaded from the suns rays.
In an interview with Prof. Lewis
Boss, of the Dudley Observatory, Al
bany, information was furnished about
the great comet now lowering near the
sun which seems to be important. Prof.
Boss is now in Washington, and Oh the
eve Of his departure for Santiago de
Chilli, where he is to observe the transit
of Venus in December. He believes
that the comet which we now see near
the sun is return of the comet discov-
cred by DR.. Gould in South America Oh
February 5, 1880. He says he was led
to this suspicion in the first place by
his efforts to suppose the present comet
identical with the one discovered in
Rio Janeiro by Cruls on Sept. 10. In
order to thus identify the two objects it
was necessary to suppose that the Cruls
comet when discovered was on its way
to perihelion. Somewhere about Sep
TENDER Is it must have been overpow-
cred by the binding radiance of the
sun and thus lost to view. On Sept.
IS it was past it's perihelion, and of such
dazzling splendor as it emerged from
close proximity to the sun as to be seen
by several observers in its position
three or four degrees west OF the sun.
The comet was now on its return jour
ney into space. On the 10Th, at noon,
it was about eight degrees west from
the sun, and still going westward. As
Stunning these facts to be true. Prof.
Boss says we must also assume that the
perihelion distance is very small. In
order to fulfill these relations, the CON-
ct must have passed around the sun on
the eastern side so close as almost to
Craze the surface. These suppositions
We're established yesterday by rough
calculations of a nature which astrono-
mers will readily comprehend.
1t occurred at once to Prof. Boss that
the orbit which this comet must have,
if it is identical with the Cruls comet,
SO n H. hop
only paralleled in is principal features
Quite as striking is the fact that the
published accounts of the comet of 1S43
bear q remarkable resemblance to
what is written Of the present comet.
The two comets stand without parallel
as the only ones which have shown
such extraordinary brilliancy in close
proximity to the sun. On the day fol-
lowing perihelion passage in 1843 comet
was observed by Mr.. Clark, OF Portland,
Me-, who used sextant for the pur-
pose, and found no difficulty in meas
uring the distance of the comet from
the sun. The same thing might be
done with the present comet on Sept. |
IS, which was presumably the day af-
ter its perihelion passage.
Astronomers now suppose that the
two comets Of 1S43 and 1880 are one and
the same body. Their orbits resemble
each other almost, or quite. within the
errors of observation. The longitudes
of the nodes differ less than five de-
grees. Their perihelion points are sit
uated less than a degree apart, and
when at perihelion the two comets had
SO nearly the same distance that the
difference may easily be attributed to
errors of calculation. This distance is
so small that those comets must have
within less than 100000
miles from the solar surface, and thus
within the suns atmosphere. Of this
fact there can be no doubt.
Prof. Boss says II have scarcely a |
doubt in my own mind that we are ac-
tually witnessing return of the great
com ats nf 1919 md 1890 I haliava that |