The herald., 1894-12-03
EDWARD SN|FT'S NEW COMET,
1t May Be One. Half a Century
Old.
A Possibility That an Italian First
Saw Its Glimmer.
Professor Swift Thinks Di vico Was
the Discovsrsr of the Wand dersr,
and That it Has Bsen Lost
to Wow Ever Since.

The Edward Swift comet, discovered
by the son OF DR.. Swift Ct the Lowe
observatory on Tuesday evening, Novem.
Der 20, may turn out to be the famous
lost comet discovered by Di Vico OF
Rome. August %, 1874. just half cen-
tury ago. The orbit of Di Vieo's comet
was computed by Brunnow and found
to be within that Of Jupiter. its aphelion
closely approaching the orbit of the
giant planet and its perihelion lying
just within the orbit OF the earth. It's
period was Eve and q half years and it
should have resppeared nine times
since it's discovery. But it did not return
as predicted, or il it has returned il was
new or eeeu.
There was one rather peculiar feature
about Di Vico's comet; its orbit was
direct and it was inclined only 2 degs.,
"a min. to the ecliptio, the inclination
being less than that OF the planet Venus
and far less than that OF any other
comet discovered in the present cent?
ry. Now. the inclination of the Edwa i
Swift come: is about dsE5.. or on
elk minutes greater than Di Vico'a OIL
DR.. Bernard OF the Lick observatory +,
who has been studying it through his
great 3B.inch refractor, suggests that 1t
is identical with the long lost comet OF
Di Vico, which would just about be due
at this time, being its ninth periodical
return since 1874.
The small difference in inclination
might be accounted for by purturba-
tions arising from being slightly swerved
from its true course by the powerful at
traction OF some of the planets it has
approached in it's mighty journeyings
through space.
If it proves to be the loat comet as.
tronomers will be keenly interested in
it's career. and If 1t were not 90 faint
they would be observing it in all parts
OF the world. Bernard can scarcely dis.
Germ II in his II inch glass, and eastern
astronomers have not been able to de-
tect it as yet.
1t ia probable that the comet ia re.
ceding from the sun and the earth, and
Prof. Swift estimates that it is now
about 130, ,OOO,0 miles away, or three
times the distance of the planet Mars in
the month of October. w. H. X.
BERKELEY ASTRONOMERS VIEWS.
An Oakland dispatch to the San
Francisco Examiner under date of No-
vember 30th says: Professor A. O..
Lsuechner of the University Of Cali.
iornia has completed his observations
and calculations on the comet recently
discovered by Professor Swift. OF the
reeults OF his work he says:
The comet is q remarkable one. The
interesting feature to the scientific world
is the fact that the inclination OF the
orbit is only three degrees. which NJ axes
it probable that the comet is periodic,
though that cannot be definitely de-
termined for about three weeks.
"It is comet of the 30th magnitude,
and at sunset is near the meridian. 1t
will cross the ecliptic on its way north.
ward at about 43 degrees from the vsrnal
equinox.
when the comet was nearest the sun.
on October 4th it was about 130,000,000
miles from that body. Il is now about
$50, 900, 900 miles from the sun and no.
000.0 from the earth. 1t is receding
and will soon disappear in space.
'Our calcn lations were extremely diff
fcult, as no ordinary methods would
give accurate results. The method we
used was that of Professor Oppolzer of
Vienna"