The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-28
BORELLI'S COMET is
NEARING THE EARTH
Would Have Been Visible From
st. Paul but for
Rain.

| N0ftts
Had clouds not interviewed last night,
citizens of ST. Paul would have.
been able to see with the naked eye
Borelli's comet, which for seyeraI
months has been sailing at the rate OF
5000, 900 miles a day toward the sun,
and last evening came into visual
range.
The ordinary observer will be able
to. locate the BoreI1i comet tonight it
the weather clears. It is in the constella-
ton Cygnus, about 6 degrees south
west of the star Alpha Cygni = the
brightest and most northern member OF
! the constellation.
The constellation popularity known as
+ the Swan lies not far to the east or
Vega, also a first magnitude star, and
about twice as far almost directly south
i of the familiar and conspicuous pole
star. The new comet was visible with
/ the naked eye when the observations
reported were made at the Lick OBJ
| servatory ten days ago.
/ ga comet is nothing but sand
| bank" said Prof G. A. Young, Of
/ Princeton, that is, it is swarm Of
solid particles Of unknown size and
widely separate-say pinheads several
l. nunQT6Q IGGt APART, cdCU PAL llClG CcI
rying with it an envelope of gas, large
| ly hydro carbon, in which gas light is
/ produced either by electrical discharges
| between the particles or by some other
light the evolving action due to the
suns influence"
Scientists have attempted to figure
out what would happen if Borelli's
comet should strike the earth. The
! comet from it's nose to the end or It's
| tail is at present about 200,000,000 miles
| long. The earth is only $4,000 miles in
circumference. The difference in size is
enough to appan any one who has been
in railroad collision, where the con-
tending trains were only 100 yards long.
What chance the earth, which is only
about 5000 miles thick at the biggest
part, would stand in a smash with a
monster whose length is measured by
hundreds of millions of miles is too
much for the ina ginatien to picture.
Might Coil Around Us.
Astronomers say that if Borelli's
comet were to hit US it. would coil
around the earth like big boa con-
strictor around it's victim. 1t would
keep on coiling until it's hundreds of
millions of miles were wrapped about
us like lace mantilla around the head
of a Spanish girl
Other astronomers claim that In 1861
a comet several times larger than the
one now heading this way hit the earth
while travelling at the rate of 10000 600
miles a day, and nobody knew it. The
earth has more than once passed
through the train of meteors that at
tend comets, and it also passed through
the tenuous tail of the famous comet
of 1861 without injury. The mean dem
sity of a comets tail is far lower than
that of the best air pump vacuum, so
that it is not hard thing to hit. Even
near the nucleus the density is not
great.
If comet should strike the earth
head on no one can say exactly what
the consequences would be- On Sthe
generally accepted theory that the nu-
cleus of comets is composed Of small
particles the particles would be dissi-
pated by friction with the atmosphere
long before they passed through the
fifty miles surrounding the earth. IF,
however, the nucleus is composed of
heavy masses, weighing tons, but wide
ly separated, the bombardment to
which the earth would be subjected
might result disastrously.
In speaking of the probable effect of
a collision between the comet and the
earth, Garrett P. Serviss, the we'll
known astronomer, said:
SCtNfSS 6SSSft car It's
81 will say that it is my belief that
If this comet should meet the earth in
square endon collision the only result
would be a marvelously beautiful spec
tacle in the heavens caused by the in
Simultaneous ignition and dissipation of
the meteoric particles composing the
body of the comet.
MANY are, perhaps, unaware how
perfect shield the soft, transparent
air forms for the earth. When one runs
rapidly against the wind one begins to
perceive the vigorous resistance that
the atmosphere is capable of interpos-
ing against a moving body, but if the
motion becomes many miles instead Of
a few feet in second the consequences
of atmospheric friction are truly as
tonishing. The particles Of the comet
entering the atmosphere would prob
ably have a velocity of not less than
twenty miles in a second, and even at
the height of seventy-five or eighty
miles above the earth the friction of the
air would almost instantaneously heat
them to incandescence, and, being
small, they would be dissipated in dust
and vapor long before 1t could reach
the surface of the earth"
A Brilliant Visitor.
The comet of 1S43 is regarded as the
most marvellous of the present age. So
luminous was this comet that it was,
Observed in the daytime even before
it was visible at night It startled the
world by appearing In the spring in
the western heavens like a streak of
aurora streaming from the regions of
the sun below the constellation of
Orion. 1t was comet Of the biggest
class.
The nearest approach of it's head to
the earth was about S0.900,000 miles.
The absolute diameter of the nebulous-
ity surrounding the head was about &c.
600 miles. The length Of it's tail was
prodigious. On Feb. ~ it was los, 000,-
600 miles in length. The stars were
plainly visible through it's tail. On the
night of Feb. q the tail was in such
direction that had it reached the earth's
orbit it would have passed $4,000, 600
miles south of the earth.
This comet was visible in Bologna,
Italy, at noon, two diameters of the
suns disk east of the sun, while pass
ing its perfheIion, being then only &c.
600 miles distant from that Iumfnary
and travelling at speed Of 366 miles
per second. It follows. therefore, that
in twelve minutes it must have passed
over a space equal to the distance be-
tween the earth and the moon
IS MADE AUXIL larry