The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-08
HALLEY'S GO M El
It is Fast Approaching With in Sight of the Inhabitants
 of This Planet.
THE COMETS IN GENERAL
llallers Comet First Proved the Periodical Returns of Com
 cts in General,

It Is calculated that comet Is now Approaching the vision of the inhab- fitants Of the earth which will be iden- tihed as the celebrated comet of 1882 that bears the name of the eminent astronomer Edmund Haley This English scientist, the friend of Sir Isaac Newton, first proved the period Heal returns of comets. identifying the ono of 1882 with that of 1ij6. 1881 and ] l6oi which since has been identified with the comet of lli5. with one mem |tioned in 06f, pith that Of aSa, and ! finally with a comet seen in the year 1 F before our era Following Harey's | prediction, it appeared In l75S and 1885 l says tho Boston Globe
 | There arc ls comets whose perlodlc- ] fly Is established by the fact that their return has been actually observed. and ! Hallcys comet is one of these. It's 1 course is now directed toward the sun 1 from d point beyond the orbit of tho planet Neptune, and some time In the l present winter it Is expected 10 emerge | from tho impenetrablo night of space. ! The photographic plate will record ts i passage before tho largest Of tho tele- scopes have picked it ID In the au- ! tumn of next year it win have become 1 brilliant object in the night sky 1 Comets have been regarded with dlt- 1 ferent emotions at different times by i tho people of tho earth, sometimes l with terror and sometimes with a more |aRrcoablc feeling
 1 Halleys comet has appeared at peri ods when great changes seemed to he
 taking place In the history of tho poo- ple of the earth It awam into tho ken
 Of mortals in io6s, when William. tho | iConpueror took possession of England and again it shonn ln tho ovea of mon Iin iif, just whom tho Turks had be- | come masters of ConStantinon'. and threatened an advance into Europe II
 was in this year that ths people o' ! Christendom prayed to he saved from the devil the Turk and tho comet" 1 When tho superstitlous fear of tho comet as 2 portent was disslpated by the revelations of science tho new knowledge of tho nature of comets
 brought now torrors Rut though tho 1 thickness 1f tha tail of comet may ha millions of miles and ita length of course much greater and although
 comet travals with prodigious velocity. lthe cometarv matter is oytremeiv at Itonuated go that stars seen through it
 suffer no diminutlon of brightness. and the corners never nave been ohservad to cause any sensible disturbance of tha
 planetary motions while approaching
 near enough to he themselves so much
 affected as to change tho entire char
 ac'er of the orbit.
 The perUIaritv of orbit is the chief
 distinction of comets, and all bodies in
 tho solar system are classod as comets
 now f they have a motion of their
 own and describe orbits of an .ytreme- ly elongated form
 In tho hairy appearance often ex-
 hibited by tho haze of luminous vapors
 of these celestial bodies tho word 'com-
 ct had its origin Tho definite point or
 nucleus, tho nehulous light surround
 ing thls and the luminous train proceed 'IE VI I'I'NI'E i' o|' '''H Ef'l"I fl i'd I'
 liros of comet
 While tho planets move in tho same
 direction. from west 10 east. comet
 move from east 10 west, or rarrograde.
 and. while, beside other characteristics, . the orbits of all the planets are nearly
 circular, tho orbits of comets present
 great variety of eccegtrtclty.
 The astronomer Tycho Rraho discov.
 cred that comets are celestial bodies
 eXtraneous 70 our atmosphere. while Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated that
 their movements are subject to tho
 same law which controls tho planets in their orbits
 Halev 0r7' proved the periodical ro-
 turns of comets, and this scientific
 achievement robbed the comet forever of its signiacance as q portcnt Nher the comet was proved to be traversing
 q course which would bring it at stat. cd times within the vision of the earth It no longer was regarded as a mystcri ous sign in the heavens, placed there
 with some special meaning
 The scientific world Is Indebted to
 Haley for number of astronomica 5 discoveries among them that of the |, proper motIona of the fixed stars Not | th., is. st nr thn snrvipG. that hn rnud