Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-12-15
DECEMBER SKIES.

"A compilation of Comet Lore for the
Curious Reader.
Having lodged comets with great suc-
cess during the past month. saws the
flttsburg Dispatch meteoroligist. this
trusty little earth of ours will peacefully
continue this month on the undisturbed
course which it has pursued every
december since it's creation. And as
we have not been knocked into smither-
Gems by Holmes comet or Biella's
comet or Jones' comet or Smiths comet
or BROWNS comet, nor yet by any comet
belonging to any other gentlemen who
carelessly leave their property running
around lose where it is liable to bump
into US, why l suppose our readers
may stlli DE interested in the celestial
our gaze this month.
but before we take look at the skies
Tor december let us see what we know
ABOUT these wonderful things called
comets. What is a comet, ANYHOW?
Inc name is derived from the Greek
word "kometes" Qong- haired), and a
comet may be defined as nebulous
Dody revolving around the sun. Comets,
then, are bona fide members of our
solar system, and. like the earth, Mars
ana other planets, they are held in their
orbits by the SUMS attraction. This
TACT. however, only became known after
Newton's wonderful discoveries, in
which he affirmed the universally of
the laws of gravitation. Previous to
this comets were looked upon as an
omalous bodies whose motions it was
impossible to understand. The sudden
ness with which they blazed forth, their
immense size, their great velocity. their
eccentric motions, sweeping toward the
sun from all regions and all directions,
made them objects of superstitious
dread and terror, until finally the
Irresistible hand of science swept away
these mysteries and put the strange
bodies IN their proper category of solar
satellites.
The senseless and unreasonable ter
ror which seems to have been caused in
some localities by recent comets is only
a relic of the superstition of the Dark
Ages. Authorities agree on this, at any
we had struck the comet, the shock
would probably not have been noticed.
About the best thing that was said in
regard to the recent scare was in yester-
days dispatch, where Prof. Jacobv is
quoted. He said: Il think great
deal too much was said and written about
the Holmes comet" But since 80 much
was said and written, it is well to have
clear idea of what we are talking and
reading about. To continue, then,
comets revolve around the sun like the
planets do, but their orbits are exceed
ingly eccentric. For instance, Encke's
comet approaches to within 3O,0O0,0O0
miles OF the sun, and its aphelion or
Il icfo ic, oh
400. 900, 900 miles. Yet Encke's comet is
one of the least eccentric. Some comets
approach even nearer the sun and then
retreat to a much greater distance, the
orbits of many of them extending far
beyond that of Neptune, the most dis
tant planet. A comet approaching the
sun from great distance comes more
and more unde- its influence, and SO
moves faster and faster, and soon dashes
past the attracting body with the most
tremendous velocity. When it once
starts moving away, however, the sun
brings it up with a short turn, and the
comet turns sharply around, passes the
sun on the other side, and whirls away
it comes, but with it's speed constantly
diminishing as it recedes from the SUMS
attraction,
The comet of 1850 had very eceen.
trio orbit. 1t came within loss than
around it at the fearful rate of l 100000
miles an hour. 1t has never been seen
since, and probably has a period of
revolution of about 600 years. Such
comet would, of course, retreat to vast
distance from the sun, and near it's
aphelion would move with velocity as
remarkably small as its velocity when
near the sun was remarkably great. 1t
is likely there are dozens of comets
floating along away outside of Neptune
at regular snail's pace of not more
than mile minute. But their turn
will come in time to be again the ex-
press trains of the solar system.
In regard to the tails OF comets 1t
would take several columns to tell what
is not known about them. They are
merely the prolongation ofthe nebulous
envelope surrounding the nucleus, and
but very little is known of their char
acter. It is the tail, though, that makes
q comet conspicuous. A comet without
a tail. as many are, is of little interest to
the amateur observer. The tails some
times reach enormous size. One at
tanned length OF 12O,OOO,OOO miles, or
was considerably longer than from here
to the sun. There are SIX comets re-
corded whose tails extended 9oo, or
from horizon to zenith. Most readers
of the Dispatch will remember the
magnificent comet of 1882, whose tail
was 200 or 800 long.
The periods of comets naturally vary
Greatly. Encke's revolves around the
the sun in about three years. while an
other has period estimated at about
1000 wears. One of the greatest and
most remarkable comets is Hoiley,s.
In the wears 24S, 324, 1893, 1905, l4oo,
1851, 1907 and 1852, remarkable comets e,s
Holley was the first to suspect them to
he one and the same body with q period
of IS years. He calculated it's orbit
and nredicted lts return in 175S. In
that year, long alter Holley'ss death the
comet punctually appeared, and also