The age-herald., 1899-08-16
THREE COMETS 1 IN FOUR MONTHS

| TGpOfteQ IDlS year. II lHlS SNhL OA lhAA5 keeps up, therefore, 1899 will make as good
 showing as did 1898, which beat the rec -ord in this branch of astronomical re- search. No fewer than ten comets were
 sighted last year, three of them being re- i peaters whose return had been anticipated, and seven being new ones. Two of the 1 latter were discovered by accident on pho-
 tographic plates.
 1 Hunting for comets Is good deal like 1 fishing The luck varies from season to l season. The planets formed out of the l same material as the sun and separated l from the parental mass ages ago, always Attend the primary orbit of the system as | 1t whirls swiftly through spaee-off toward the star Vega. it is thought. But the com l cts are adopted vagrants, not children. l As the sun invades new regions it passes l near some of these strays every year Its own attraction or that of some big planet Clsaws the wanderer into a new path, and 1 perhaps attaches it to the family for cen turies. Thereafter, although the comet may pursue a course that will take 1t away for | five or six or even thirty or forty years, 1 it Is likely to come back again and again l to the immediate vicinity of the sun. Dul IL iS dloO lihCiy tO AoiA' may happen to damage or divert it. Hence comets which have returned several times in succession. and whose po-iod has been carefully computed. will ever now and then disappoint the astronomer. At least three comets neglected to keep their appoint
 ments last year. Anyhow, they were not seen. Whether thedr love has grown cold or whether they have been wrecked on some celestial reef it is impossible to say. Of the three comets reported since Jan
 uary 1 last, the one discovered by Swift was an utter stranger; the next, seen about month ago, was an old acquaintance. Tuttle's comet of 1858, and the latest find, | was also well known. Tempel first ob- served it in 1873, and it was the second one seen that year. Therefore, the comet is labeled '"Tempel 1873 H." to distinguish it from others.
 Although the second of these bears Tut
 ties name, it is now believed that the
 comet is identical with the one found by
 Machain in 1790 It comes back to the sun
 once in thirteen and five-sixths years. The
 outer loop in it's elllptical orbit lies near
 the path of Saturn and it is thought that
 that planet has shaped the destiny of the sSOhSI tO t SCi tdiii cAlcul. DtfSIdi OlHcE
 comets have been picked up by Saturn.
 while the whole planetary system was
 moving through space. So that Saturn Is
 said to have little family of comets,'
 just as Jupiter and Uranus have Some
 doubts were entertained about the possi-
 bility of seeing Tuttle's comet this year,
 inasmuch as it was expected to appear in
 part of the heaven where it would not
 be readily detected. There is no reason to
 question it's identity, however.
 Tepel 1873 II belongs to Jupiter's flock.
 It's period is about 5.2 years. It was last
 seen in 1884, and it's nearest approach to
 the sun on this trip is expected to occur
 in July. The comet is right time, ap-
 parently, and seems to have a keen sense of its obligations to society This object
 made its second appearance in 1878, but in
 1883 and 1889 is escaped observation Fears
 were then expressed that it had gone the
 way of all bad comets, so that the return
 in 1894 gave the astronomers fresh cause
 to renew their confidence in the visitor.
 The particular spot in which it ought to
 appear had been computed so accurately
 by Dr. Schulhof, of Paris, that the differ
 ence between the prediction and realiza-
 llOH was dlILOSl iiIiptICcplipiCs lfdol s"cch
 the comet reappeared within a few sec-
 onds of the position assigned to it by the
 same expert.
 This comet has been confounded with an-
 other which Tempel discovered. He saw
 it first in 1867. and it came back in 1873.
 The period of this other wanderer was
 about six and a half years. Tempel 1867,
 however, failed to return on the next four
 occasions when 1t would if 1t had been gift
 ed with a proper moral sense and high degree of executive ability. Its last en-
 gagement was for September, 1898. Inas-
 much as it did not come to time then, 1t
 has now been crossed off the books of comet-seekers.
 Besides the two repeaters which have
 come back this year. more or less hope has
 been cherished in regard to four others. One which bears Denning's name was look
 ed for in January. Thus far 1t has failed to report, and it is now too late for it to
 redeem it's reputation. Barnard 1892 V was expected in April. Up to date it has not been heard from, and 1t Is now likely to disappoint its friends. Then there was a comet of Holmes that was billed to appear
 in May. No one has yet sighted It. But
 perhaps 1t has only missed a train. It is too soon to give up entirely.
 To the fourth of the repeaters concern ing which expectation has been excited this year peculiar interest attaches. Shortly after the famous showers of meteors in 1896 two independent communications were made by famous astronomers. Leverrier | calculated the track and period of tho swarm of bodies that produced the mete- oric display. and Oppolzer did the same for comet which passed near the sun in January, 1S96 and which was first seen by Tempel. When the results were published ! it was noticed that the two paths were a4- most identical This, taken with one or two similar coincidences, immediately sug- gested the probability of closer rela- tionship between comets and meteors than had previously been suspected.
 It is now believed that the meteor show CT that emanates from the constellation of Perseus in August is due to the wreckage of comet of Tutf1a'S Tho pataor, tbo.