The Republican journal., 1882-10-12
The New Comet.

The Cruls comet is a provoking speci-
men OF its race. 1t is undoubtedly one
OF the most remarkable comets on record,
| yet it has SO disguised or Shrouded itself
in one way or another that the facts
on which to base a satisfactory ac-
| count OF 1t are not yet at command. 1t
passed its perlhellon on September 18th.
| 1t appears a brilliant and clearly de-
| fined object above the eastern horizon
| about 4. 80 A. NJ, or a few minutes later,
and for little more than half hour, or
until the morning twilight obscures it,
is conspicuously visible to ordinary OBJ
servation without telescope 1t will so
| appear for several succeeding mornings,
and is at the height Of its brilliancy and
beauty about 1 .45 A. NJ. AS spectacle
simply it is best seen by the naked eye
or through an ordinary opera glass Only
for scientific purposes is the use of a
telescope desirable. The position es-
tablished by the observation conforms
by calculations at Cambridge and at
Washington, and is intermediate be
tween these two. On Saturday des-
patch came to the Science Observer
from DR.. Oppenheim, Of Berlin, giving
! the following figures for a position, which
vary considerably from those heretofore
telegraphed from the same place: Sep
TENDER Is, l6h. On. IS. Greenwich mean
time; r. A. I0h. 45m. 52s. S. dee ) deg.
81 min. Yesterday despatch was re
celved from the same astronomer giving
the elements AS defined from observations
made in Europe. These conform to
reasonable extent to the orbit as defined
here The extraordinary bad weather
has prevented the Cambridge observers
from making that progress towards their
final conclusions respecting the strange
luminary that otherwise they would have
made, but Mr.. Chandler says that there
are indications which point to the con
clusion that this is periodical comet of
a short orbit. If it shall prove 50 it will
add to the Importance of the event of its
appearance, which is already of recog-
nlzed importance on account OF the great
brilliancy of the comet. which, as it came
out from its perihelion passage must have
been very intense As it recedes from
the SIN it rapidly diminishes in this re-
spect. The fact that it was subject to
| observations il the southern hemisphere
before perihelion has previously been
spoken of as unprecedented. What has
not yet been satisfactorily explained, and
what with the adverse conditions of
weather prevalent in two continents
makes the affair, as was remarked,
'provoking." is that the comet ought
| to have been seen in the northern hemi-
sphere also before perihelion. That it
was not is strange considering that the
brilliant comet of 1850 was seen by some
thing like 5000 persons at or about the
same time on its first appearance. This
comet is now quite as bright as that of
1850, and has a tail about fifteen degrees
in length, and projecting upward, and in
Ginning from the vertical somewhat to-
ward the south, as beheld in the eastern
horizon Toward the end the tail is curry
ed slightly to the left. A dark rift APP
pears in the middle of it. throughout its
whole length, as if it We're IA shadow cast
| 10y the nucleus. The northtrly edge OF
the tail is somewhat hazy. but the south
erly edge is sharply defined. Boston
| Advertiser.