The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-10-09
TITANIC PENDULUM
SWINGS INTO VIEW
Continued from Page l'ifteen)

HALEY predicted the return Of his
comet about the year 175S Other as
tronomers plunged eagerly into the
new and exciting computation. New
perturbation factors were discovered /
and applied to the calculation-the de-
and of Saturn was figured out, even !
remote Neptune contributed to the re-
suit In March, 1859, Halleys comet |
came swinging past the sun, reason |
able approximation when one recalls
that HALEY had no true measure of
the amount of planetary retardation or
acceleration; a very close accord with
the results of the recalculators who
had spent long years of arduous toll
in computing these neglected elements.
Pontecaulant was one of five who
computed the return of Halley's CO.
met in 1885. Scarcely had the comet
proved his calculation correct than he
plunged into a recomputation of the
orbit from new observations with in
struments of greater precision, and in
Halleys comet would pass its perihe-
lion May 10, 1910. Cowell and Crom-
melin have recomputed the elements,
and they are in substantial accord
with Pontecoulant, that is they fix the
perihelion passage at April s. This
is a difference of thirty-two Gays in
seventy-fve years, it amounts to less
! than nine seconds in a day. 1t was
their computation that by Octobed !
tire comet at a distance of 900, 900, 900
miles should become an object of te-
lescopic visibility, and just a fortnight
ahead of their time the comet is in
sight
Not content with the present and the
future Cowell and Crommelin have
computed the past appearances of this
comet as far back as the Norman Con-
quest They determine the present
round the shortest ever made "a years
Sig months. The longest orbital
period was between the perihelin OF
1922 and 1901, 70 years months. At
perihelion it passes 64,O0O,O0O miles
from the sun, "a ,0O0,O from the earth
at aphelion, where it makes its turn
and begins to come back, mere figures
lose their meaning-it is thirty five
times as far from the sun as is the
earth. ssFi i&G s.
Halleys discovery law in the realm
of figures, the making of a cometary
time table. The science of his day anC
for long after regarded every come
coming as mass of solid intraspatia
matter giving off long train of glow
ing combustion product and failed ut
terly to give any explanation of tn
comet going and giving out its trail
ahead of its movement There wer
V otherd physical anomalies. How coul,
combustion, the result of friction, TAX
place in empty space? The older doc
trine was that space was occupied b.
the absolute nullity of emptines
through which light found its wa,
without retardation therefore Their
could be no friction upon moving so
lid body later doctrine filled spac
which nothing could pass, but whic
of itself passed with the utmost cas-
through all of that we can think of a
4 being the utmost degree o solidity
Here again could be no friction.
Science has not yet evolved a who'll
satisfactory theory of the nature {
comets, perhaps the coming of Ha
leys comet if it repeats its forme
glories may yield that missing chapte
since now for the first time it will
seen in the spectrascope which wi
tear it part from part and give a II
cord of it's constituent elements an
to a certain extent of the .conditiC
under which they abe arranged. ri
n latest theory proposed that the NJ
III cleus at the hea dof a comet is not
solid body of such sort as the bolid
u which flash into gases in the frictiC
of our atmosphere or fail rarely to Il
surface of the earth.
I 1t is considered to be an agglomer
" ton of matter finely divided andu +
naming more or less constant in j
unity by the internal attraction of
parts Thus, by Encouragement
these particles under the crap of sol
H. traction, it is possible to account f
- the successive layers Of light on t
- advancing face of the comets hea
i For the tail two principles have be
proposed, and it must be remember
that science has to account for t
u rearward tail of the coming comet a
!. tire forward tail of the going com
The tail always streams away fro
the sun.
One principle rests upon the perez
sive force OF light, that the crest
every wave of light hits every parti
of matter upon which it impinges
measurable blow. The volume of I
comets head is so great in prop
ton to its mass of finely comminut