The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-03-09
END OF THE WORLD [ !.
BIela's Comet is Again the Astrono.
mc-'s Bugaboo-It VIII Collide With
the Earth November 18th.

raer., Rudolph Falb. the earth. Will be
smashed to smlthereens next Novem-
Der by contract with B!ela's comet. says
the Chicago Inter-Ocean. This Is the
same comet which was to have de-
stroyed the world in 1892 Then there
was something like public panic. 1t
was told in the press OF the day how
the astronomer Oilers. as result OF
careful study In advance OF mo COM
cts movements, had found that It's CEN
ter would. shortly before midnight on
October 20 OF that year. cross the earth's
orbit. The calculation was not fully
understood BY the public. and alarmed
them enough to make them talk about
the forthcoming destruction Of our
globe.
But what is the earth's orbit? 1t is
the circle In which the earth moves
round the sun. II ball Is projected
across u track Its shock is only TO be
dreaded II there Is any one passing
along the track at the same place and
moment rs the ball. Now. our planet
was tined to reach the place where the
comet would cross It's orbit full four
weeks after the comet had come and
gone. Therefore there was not q shad-
ow OF reason for alarm. The journalists
Of 1897 COMPOUNDED the trajectory Of
the ball with the ball itself.
So much Is pointed out by NJ. Flam-
amTion. He declares that even II there
had been contact. earth meeting COM
ing face to face. nothing serious would
have occurred, so far. as the earth was
concerned. Astronomers know that
spree Is full of comets, flying In every
direction around the sun, like moths
around candle. and that the earth,
turning around the central star, Is e.
posed to the chance of coming into con-
tact with many of them. But comets
are imponderable bodies, sort of airy
nothing. mass Of gas and vapor. The
terrestrial globe can pass through them
most Of them-like n cannon ball
through swarm of flies. That Is what
actually happened on June 30. 1861, ac-
C0rding to calculation by Hind, the
highest living authority on comets. The
earth passed into and through the tail
OF the great comet of that year at
about two-thirds Its distance from the
nucleus. Nothing happened save Pc
culiar phosphorescence or illumination
Of the sky. The sun, though shining.
gave but feeble light The comet was
plainly visible in England ut a quarter
10 S o'clock In the evening during SUM-
shine and had a much more hazy ap-
pearance than on any subsequent even
ing.
Flammarion adds another reason for
serenity. Biela's comet. whose revolu-
ton round the sun Is, or rather was.
accomplished in six years and seven
months. did encounter the earth on No
vember 81, 1872. But Biela's comet, II
It ever was dangerous. Is, no longer so,
for 1t Is about dead itself. having been
broken Into millions OF shooting stars.
So far back as 1916 this comet was
seen TO split in two, and these nebulous
twin bodies continued to travel side by
side through space for four months,
the distance between the, fragments
slowly increasing. Then they passed
out of sight. owing to the distance from
the earth which they had obtained.
When they returned 10 perihelion. In
1852, the two portions still :retnined their
individuality. but the distance between
them had increased to about eight
times the greatest distance noticed In
iSi6. Then they entirely disappeared
and have never been seen since.
What has become OF them? Astron-
omers believe that they have broken
up into a mass OF meteors. On Novem-
Der q. 1872. and again in November,
1885. when the earth. in travelling along
its own orbit, should have encountered
Bieln's comet. wonderful mass OF
shooting stars, estimated at 100000.
were seen again. This prodiglous
swarm arrived at a point in the heav-
ems corresponding to that which should
have been occupied. not by the head
OF the comet { which. II Still eXtant
would have passed the point in the
earth's orbit twelve weeks previously,
but by its tail. There is no doubt that
these meteors. which apparently are
keeping more or less together as COM
pact swarm, are nothing else than the
disintegrated material OF what was
once Biela'S comet.
Flammarion. indeed. grants that
there might be danger II our earth came
Into direct contact with the head Of
very large comet. The consequences
would differ materially. according to
the nature and direction Of the shock.
1t can readily be seen that II 4 comet
came upon us from behind the speed
OF its shock would be at minimum,
whereas II 1t met us face to face 1t
wouM be at a maximum OF 1900 me-
tiers per second We would doubtless
penetrate without any sensible resist
ance into the nebulous substance OF the
comet. But II the comet We're an I'M
usually large one. then, no matter how
feeble the resistance, nor how slight
the density OF the head OF the comet.
the passage through the substance by
our earth. moving at 4 speed one hun
drcd and twenty times that OF can
non ball. might, through the natural
transformation Of movement into heat.
create such n rise in temperature that
our entire. atmosphere would take fire
Ike bowl OF punch.
All precedent teaches the startling
fact that about every thirty-three years
grand shooting star shower rains
down upon our earth. This phcnom-
enon was true OF 1866 and of 1893. AS
rtonomers confidently expect that 1t
VIII be true OF 1899. At present the day
OF the year on which this particular
shower Is wont to appear Is about No
Fembcr II. November in every year
brings us few metcors belonging to
the grand shower. but these fire only
StraSS!erS from mighty host that
visits us In its entirety three times a
century. The host Is known as the
Leon!ds. from the fact that ia all years
and through al hours OF the night
they cross the sky Us we look at them
N lines that diverge from point near
the center OF the sickle In the constel-
iatlon Leo. Their radiation from Leo
Is, OF course, only an apparent one from
our point OF view. but 1t helps to prove
mat their paths In the air are parallel
Next November - the earth will re-
urn TO the critical point in its orbit,
Where 1t crossed the metcoric current,
ana By that time the whole OF the great
shoal will generally have swept past
ana onward along It's own orbit. Some
Imes. however, 1t happens that even
w n year the entire shonl has not