The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-21

y
mated, and if the head of a C met were or
the nature of a lens which might converge
the Suns rays into beam. But as not one
Of these conditions hold, the theory is ut
terly untenable We have in factno choice
but to regard the tails of comets as due to
some form Of repulsive action exerted by
the sun.
The danger which the comet of l6SO sug-
gested was misrepresented by Newton. In
those times physical laws were for the most
part little understood, and nothing had been
shown which tended to prove that the sun is
not ball of fire supported like other fires
by fuel. Regarding the suns's heat in this
erroneous way, Newton naturally regarded
the chief danger which a comet could bring
as that arising from the abnormal amountot
fuel suddenly brougl to the sun if a comet
so large that OF 1850 should fall suddenly
upon his globe. As matter of fact the sun
IS not fire i'll that sense; ard if he were, the
immediate effect of amere supply of fuel
would be cooling not heating. But the in
rush of cometic matter upon the suns globe
at the. rate of $50 miles per second, which IS
that wherewith every particle Of comets
mass would move as it reached the suns
visible surface, would mean an enormous
accession of heat which could not fail
though the contrary has been rashly assert
ed) to be emitted rapidly-say within few
days at the outside-probably destroying
every trace of life upon this earth aud what
ever other planets may be at preSeat the
abode of life.
If such a comet as that of 1911 we're to
rush upon the sun in this way, the effect
would doubtless be disastrous That comet
was the greatest ever seen by man, though
a few others have during portion of their
visibility appeared larger and more brill
liant 1t had a tail 100, 900, 600 of miles long
and 100000 of miles broad at thu part
farthest from the head. The head was J.
800, 900 miles, in diameter, and the nucleus
itself mad diameter of $1,000 miles, ex-
ceeding nearly four times the diameter of
the great planet Jupiter, and indicating
volume more than fifty times as great AS his
or 1000 times greater than the earth's. OF
course the mass was comparatively small.
But the days have passed when masses alb
solutely insignificant could reasonably lin
the presence of tho existing evidence) be at
trIbuted to large come. We know that a
telescope cometS-Temuel's-i followed by
the train of multitudinous small bodies,
which produce the November star showers,
and though on the average each meteor OF
this family may perhaps not weigh more
than few grains, yet as there are many
millions of millions of meteors following
that small comet we can safely take the
weight of its meteoric train alone at many
thousands of tons of matter What then,
must in all probability, be the total mass of
all the meteoric masses following in the
train of the great comet of 1911, compared
with which Tempel's comet of 1866 the
comet of the November meteors) is but a
babe compared with an army of giants!
Nothing comDared with the mass of a
planet-our earth's for example, 600, 000,-
100000 of millions OF tons)-the mass of the
great comet Of 1911 must yet in all probable
ity be measurable by millions of tons.
Luckily that immense comet moved on a
very safe course. 1t never approached within
9O,000,0U0 miles of the sun. That indeed
was one of the circumstances which made the
comet SO remarkable. 1t is usually when in
the part of its course nearest to the sun that
q comet assumes its most striking aspect.
Then has it been that most comets have
flung forth the mo remarkable tails, and
and exhibited the strangeSt transformations.
Yet here was comet with a tail larger
Though not longer than any ever seen be-
fore or since, when as far from the sun as
our earth is, and so far from our earth that
its grandeur of appearance certainly owed
nothing to proximity. UnQuestionably the
comet of 1911 suggests ideas of cometic pos
sibilities surprising any that otherwise
would have had to be considered by astron-
omers.
The effects of proximity and generally of
position must always be taken into account
in comparing comets together The same
comet which in one position would appear as
a neatly defined straight tailed comet of
moderate dimensions will ia another spread
over half the heavens with tail like half
opened fan, and presenting peculiarities of
structure and detail which in the other pO-
sition would not have been noticed. re-
member well miStaking the tail of the comet
of 1861 as / saw it for the first time early
on June morning, for the streamers of an
aurora borealis until / noticed that it was
not ahA fha -;rhf 81 1ho Iar
Yet that comets tail did not expand more
widely with increasing distance from the
head than the tails of other comets which
have not presented similarly fanshaped
appearance The comet when first seen was
passing between the earth and the sun, and It's
tail extending almost directly towards the
earth came much nearer to US where it
passed athwart the earth's orbit than is usual,
looking therefore necessarily very wide
at that distance from the head The effect
is precisely akin to that recognized in per-
speetive when lines really parallel are shown
diverging from a vanishing point.
In the same way, doubtless may be ex-
planned the wonderful tail of the great
comet of 1744,<a tail spread out like a fan
with six symnletrically arranged sections,
each large enough and bright enough to
serve by itself as respectable tail for full
sized comet. Unfortunately, in the middle
of the seventeenth century the fashion of
touching up comet pictures to make them
look more regular and striking than the
comets really were still continued, and in
consequence we have to take the multiple |
tail of the great comet of 1744 with a grain
of salt--still it must have been marvellous
object in reality to suggest such amazing de-
lineations.
The comet of 1S43 was as remarkable for
the straightness and simplicity of its tail as
that of 1744 for its tail, widespreading and
But the comet of 1913 was seen
from the side, its head being no further off |
than the end of its tail. This comet was on
the whole the most interesting known. 1t
actually grazed the surface of the sun. In |
1880 comet came along which traversed |
almost exactly the same path near the sun,
and in 1882 yet another; SO that for while |
the idea prevailed that the comet OF 1S43 |
had returned in 1880, and being delayed in
its passage past the sun had come back after |
shortened orbit in 1882 But the |
comet of 1882 continued too long within tele- |
scope range for this mistaken view of its |
character to continue. 1t retreated on |
course showing that hundreds Of years must |
elapse before its return. Yet the agree |
ment of the orbits mot only of the comets |
of lS43, 1880, and 1882, but that Of a comet |
which appeared in 1868 and another which |
appeared in 1880 near the sun is too close TO |
be accidental. AS these are certainly not |
the same comet seen at different returns, |
though they are certainly connected in some |
way, what can they be but portions of what |
ouca a ciuUla much lar and mora