The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-08-06
BACK ON Time.
Encke's Comet. AFTER Travelling
100000 Miles.
COMES BACK IN GOOD CONDITION.
Many Telescopes Turned Hcavenward
Into tho Path the Aerial Traveller
Was Supposed to Follow Some
Interesting Matter About Comets
in General.

morning there was great rejoicing il
tho astronomical world. The astra,
body, Just like Diss Debar's, has actual
ly materialized again. It was due, and
1t arrived as promptly as Nellie bly, diG
after her trip around the world, and il
was as sure Of discovery as George
Francis Train Is when he sits on his
bench in Madison Square.
The astronomers In the Lick ohserya
tory on Mount Hamilton, CAL, wore
fortunate. A few days ago the atmos'
phere in the neighborhood of the OBJ.
servatory was 80 filed with smoke from
the burning forests that even the best
known planets and the moon ltselI
were obscured. There was, too, the
danger that the heat wonld affect the
instruments, but the big telescopes es.
capped harm, and the smoke cleared
away in time TO reveal the Celestial
Iomad swinging along its orbit, as was
predicted by DR.. Barkland. The astron'
omers ofthe world were on the lookout
for 1t
The best telescopes OF Germany,
France, Italy, the United States, Eng.
land, Australia and China were leyelled
to tho field Of ila orbit, for Encke's
comet is periodic and returns about
every three yeara. twas known 70 DO
somewhere IN the field OF vision, unless
by accident It had become lost, strnyed
or stolen as happened to poor Biela'a
comet. This tramp Of the heavens ro-
ported as usual in 1889 and Winhed one
eye al lheeallh, bat failed 10 6howup 1T
the appointed time In 1850 and again M
1866. Nothing has since beon seen or
hoard Of Il. But Biela'e comet was
hardly responsible for what II did, be-
cause in 1876 it split in two parts each
q complete comet IN itself, and Il seems
to have gone off ON q celestial jag and
got bewildered among the rings Of me-
teoritea,N as the professors say. ss
Encke's comet y Q very ataid and
respectable home body. II travels the
sumo old route around the sun that il
was pufauing when discovered by Pons,
the astronomer Of Marseilles, in 1878.
Probably 1t WIS going the same rounds,
Tutoring about the flame OF the sun
like June bug around an electric light,
in the days when HippAranus lived lao
b. o. and II the ChAldeans had pos
sessed a Lick Observatory as well
located as the one in California the
same comet might have been discovered
then. It is only q question OF discovery,
not OF birth, when heavenly bodies are
concerned. The existence OF Jupiter
was known 5000 years D. C., but
Neptune was not discovered till 1916.
Prof. Pons, the French astronomer,
had Just got his name attached 10 his
little comet, and was preparing to per.
feet his title by letters patent, not be-
ing able TO make homestead entry,
when Prof. Enke, OF Berlin, swooped
down upon the transporting comet and
took it from the French, as Germany
has done in other cases whore French
claims were concerned, Prof. Encke
predicted its return in 1922, and 1t was
seen in that year by Sir Thomas Bris-
bane In New South Wales, Eacke pre-
dicted that It would return again In
1926 and in 1928. The comet did so,
and Encke jumped the claim, and has
held it ever since. The astronomical
world know 1t only as Encke's comet
now.
When large and complete comet is
approaching the sun, the haze of light
usually changes from q rounded to an
elongatedfgure. Afterwards the comets
light presents a streaky or combed-out
appearance. Presently the tail is
thrown out on the side away Fon the
sun.
The tail grows larger and brighter as
the comet approaches the sun, and con-
tinues in existence for some time after
the comet has begun to pass away from
the suns neighborhood. Some which
have shown beautiful tails as they
neared the sun, have reappeared after
the perihelion passage with only short
tail or without any tail at all.
Others, which have shown only in
significant tails while approaching their
perihelion, have reappeared magnitied
aud glorifed, throwing out an immense
tall and exhibiting every appearance OF
violent excitement.
Short-period comets have short tails,
and Encke's comet il OF this class.
About three years and four months
ekNpSS uelVE0 40 ItltIpVttEhuib III hhas
time 1t has travelled how many milliona
Of miles? II has gone TO a distance four
times as far from the sun as the earth is
and returned to point only one-third
rs far as Is the earth from tho sun. II
ia extrancous to our atmosphere This
discovery was made by Tycho Brahe in
1857. But oven the ancients suggested
TINT comets bad periodic orbits around
the sun.
The first enunciation OF this theory
was made by Newton. who based Il up.
on observations OF the great comet OF
1850.
With what velocity then must this
astral body travel to cover 700,000000
milos in three years? Helmholz showed
that wave oil thought would require
about a minute to travel a mile OF nerve.
a touch on the face is recognized by the
brain iu one-seyenth Of 1 second. Ia
the speed OF comet to be compared
with thought or touehP Here is a sim.
pie problem in arithmetic for children,
The comets travel around the, sun in
the same direction as the plants. There
arc several named and copyrighted in
the astronomical world. Halley's comet
was identified by Edmund HALEY, an
English astronomer. on its appearance
in 1882 as that Of 1881 and 1907, and It's
return was predicted OF the end Of 1888
or the beginning OF 1859. II appeared
In 1853 and again in 1885.