Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-21
ONLY ONEIN A BILLION
Is the Chance of the Earth ard Biela's
Comet Coming in Contact
so SAYS PROFESSOR KELLER.
The latest observations Will Be Given
From Harvard This Week.
THERE is ANOTHER COMET VISIBLE

Prof. Keeler, of the Allegheny Obserya-
supposed to be- Bielas, will come in con-
tact with the earth in crossing its orbit
Prof. Keeler said yesterday: ''The nucleus
of a comet is supposed to be solid body of
metallic density. If the comet should come
along before the earth got out Of its orbit
there might be shower of meteorite
that cbuld destroy life and property. Such
showers in the present case are not at all
improbable. Astronomers have been
watching the new comet with their tele-
scopes whenever the sky has been clear
enough to do so. and it is fortunately in
very good position for observation.
"The chances of our coming in contact
with the nucleus of the comet are about one
in billion, and while the earth may pass
through some portion of the tail of the
comet, as it has done before there would
not be soul on earth cognizant of the fact,
so far as we know. ....
Millions of Miles of Matter.
To give an idea of the extreme tenuity of
the tail of this comet, we are now looking
at it almost on end, and possibly looking
through millions of miles of this attenu-
ated matter Observations made by my.
self and Mr. Brashear with the large tele-
scope on Friday night showed there was no
diminution of the light of stars through the
entire mass. No less than 13 stars were seen
shining through it. One of these stars was
quite near to the nucleus where the coma or
surrounding haze was the most dense, and
yet it seemed to shine as brightly as if it
were standing out in the blue sky. The
comet is likely coming almost directly
toward us. as it has only moved in right as
cension about two degrees and its motion
north has been scarcely perceptible since its
discovery.
at is really very easy to trace the path of
comet through the sky, as it can be seen
passing over or near stars, and in this way
the orbit can readily be determined. tits
only necessary to get three positions on al
ternate nights to obtain preliminary orbit,
but if these times are separated by an inter-
val of a week, the orbit can be very closely
calculated" r...-" --
Calculating the Course of Comets.
The Allegheny Observatory is not sup
piled with instruments suitable for de-
termining orbits, but this is being done in
other observatories and the positions of the
comet given for months ahead. The calcu-
lated orbit of the comet is expected during
the early part of the week from the head
quarters of such information at Harvard
Observatory. Astronomers apprehend ab-
solutelv no danger to the inhabitants of this
sublunary sphere, at least those at the Ale
gheny Observatory did not seem in the least
concerned.
'There is another very interesting comet
in the morning sky" continued the pro-
fessor. "1t was discovered by MIR. Brooks,
of Geneva, N. Y. during the summer, but it
is now IS times brighter than at the time of
discovery. 1t is situated just south of the
Ill., 7 I, s,,A
stellation of Sextans tonight Its position,
astronomically speaking, for tonight is
right ascension 100 50;declination south 6o3T.
1t is moving south at the rate of 10 per day,
so that amateurs wishing to observe this in
teresting comet ill,have no trouble to follow
it. There are also two other comets in the
sky within the range of the telescope, but as
they are difficult objects we will not give
their positions unless desired"