Milford chronicle., 1895-01-04

be seidge.
Iol'' point on Feb. /
the deat into space
Aeir. Peits progress until
.SI, %nloa and faded into the
alteredlosely watched, its
full fGred, its peculiarites
Do, as far as the astrono-
lail mssd the earth will become
s stand whore necks are
I'D is are strained ana irac.ions
,oisI,i loom gigantic as the li''ie
stches for the wire.
s twOraordinary interest 10 TINS io1NiH
,o,4oee's comet arises from TWO aouiuel.
first place. the comet pegah inans
ago to exhibit marked peoull'iiss
IE+s rste Of motion Its period from one
fOBerihelion passage to the ne1u = II,,,I-,
sore INIT this period has been silsnliy
,d ,raauallv shortening ever since the
-3iscose,-y Of the comet in 1loo. Up 70 1870
tbs rate of shortening was about "a houIs
N each revolution, and the conelusion
v-os that the comet suffered a resistance
foD, some medium peryadlng the spao0
+bronob which it travelled The ursu re-
eult Of such resistance Wouiu re 70 ~
4ar5 the cometis advance in its orbit ana
force A. "a little closer TO the sun bul oe-
sng nearer the sun it would necessarily
-,,ere faster and thus would arrive az eAch
ret,,rn triae earlier at perihelioh. As
tronomers had hardly begun 70 attaoA l,e
nrobleIns arising out Of the existence ui
resisting medium in space whloh lio ii'o
zion of Enckes comet seemed 70 ueinoH
strate, before a surprising ehahee ocv uil1g
a. fbe rate Mt which the comet quickeneu
its speed, This change was hrel lo''le, I-,1
An 1868. at which time the comet accel
- 20 rtfn
NOR amount, and the new rate mas pceH
maintained ever since.
gpch an alteration Of rate is inconsls'
ent with the idea OF a general resisting
medium occupying space, but there Is no
dodoinq the fact that something inter
feres with the motion Of Enoke's comet
Tqro suqoestions have been made one
due to Professor Young, IS that of "a regu-
1arIv recurring encounter OF the comet
with a cloud of meteorlo matter; the other
mt forth by Mr. w Il. Lynn, is that the
attraction Of the asteroids near Whose
tbronqing orbits the comet passes Wheh
most distant from the sun, may be the
source Of disturbance.
If Encke's comet were a massive uuuy p
these effects would not be noticed IL Is
because the comet is so insignificant a
mote. hying like an airy spirit among the
DIanets. that it is able to tell us some
thing of subtle forces and resistances
which the ponderous earth would ride
down unnoticed.
The second reason for the particular IN
terest awakened by this return OF the
comes is that on it's last previous visit 20
the sun, i'm 1891, it passed compafauNei!
niuao 81 the planet Mercury. The euect
of that approach must manifest itself also
I'm the comets motion Tho great Jupiter
is accustomed to send comets hiJher ana
tbitber at his viii when they get within
his sphere of attraction. Mercury cannot
do that. both because it is much smaller
than Jupiter and because it is in tho IN
mediate presence of the dominating sun
hut its attraction is sufficient neyeflhe-
less. TO cause percepu5le change in the
comet s orbit Now, this change is a meas
ure Of the attractive power, or mass, OF
the planet producing it. 1t will therefore
give clew TO the mass Of Mercury, con-
oerning which astronomers are still more
or less IA doubt The mass of Mercury
being ascertained, other related facts are
gained for science, and thus little wan
dering comet which, if 1t could be captur-
ed and condensed into a solid FORM might
not be the largest exhibit in meteorolog.
zeal museum, proves to be an explorer of
interplanetary space, each Of whose jour
news into the unknown brings enrichment
OF knowledge to man.-Garrett j. SerVlss
in New York sun.