The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-09-20
been the cause of bitter argument
and REORGANIZATION.

The prevailing theory at the time.
and the one which for The time being
seems to have downed all opposition,
Is that h head of a comet d. COM
posed OF millions of little neteorites.
fragments of some star shattered I'm
a bygone catastrophe. or a whisp Of
stuff let over when the worlds were
made. Among these are mixed finer
particles and dust, which, as the com
ct whirls sunward are blown out be-
hind.
This explanation of the nature of
a comets tail is b product of one
of h most recent and important OF
scientific discoveries. 1t has been
discovered that Hght-conno sum
light-exerts a pressure as great as
that of a strong wind. With this dis
overy in view il Is now believed that
only the larger particles of a comet
have mass enough to be drawn iby
the gravitational force of The sun IN
| spite of the opposing force of the sun
light, and that the finer stuff, whose
weight is less in proportion to the
| surface on which the sunlight can
act is blown out behind into a flaming
tail millions of miles in length
o the path and period of the com
| cts course the scientists speak with
more finality. Each step in its ire
mendous journey to a point two thou
sand million miles beyond the sun
and pack again has been traced with
absolute accuracy. Each disturbing
influence along the path, the gravita-
tiOnal pull of some planet along the
road that retards its progress, the
pull of some star that hastens it on
its journey, all have been taken into
account. At the end of the m
dous calculations astronomy presents
US with a result which is n of the
most marvellous of lei triu-nphs. The
comet has beef followed ON a journey
into dark, cold interStellar space, far
lbeyond the limits of the visible uni
verse and back again, and so accurate
have the calculations been that THE
allowance of a day or so has been sui
~ficient to cover the marginal error.
Edmund Haley. a famous English
astronomer was the first to advance
the theory that the co.net observed Thy
him in 1862 was the same one TO
which historical reference was to be
found from time to time since before
the birth of Christ. He noticed a sin
ilarity in the orbits of the comet
which he observed and those of the
comets appearing in 1907 and 1881
Investigation led him to the belief
that the orbits were identical and
that the same comet was paying fly
ing visits at regular intervals to the
= sun anu lObfh tAuih ASaAh dIN0l o.
| interval of sixty-seyen years.
N life of the discovery was tot
short by seventeen years for him Il
see the fulfilEnent of his prophecy
But other servants. convinced by his
arguments, took mp n work and be
gan the tremendous task of calculat
ing the exac time that the come
should appear. if Halley's prophec,
We're true. One Of the greatest ma
thematiciaas the world has eve
known. Alexis Claude Clairaud, o
France was the first to take mp tn,
problem. His calculations were con
fined solely TO the determination o
how mucn the speed of the come
would be accelerated as it moved to
words the planet Jupiter. and how
much the same drag of ~gravitatior
would hold it back as ii moved away
His work only pointed out the wa,
in which the problem might be solv
ed. He explained the method to Je
rome de Lalande. a young aStronome
: and to Madame Lepaute. a woman o
, only slightly less mathematical genius
! than the master. The work that fol
: lowed consumed six months of inces
r SAINT figuring. each of the problem,
> being as difficult and intricate as ma
thematicians w ever SET thei
minds upon. Towards the n of tn,
six months the pair worked almos
, night and day as the pre- icted tins
for the temperance of The come
= was rapidly approaching. Lalande',
health broke down beneath the strain
! and he never again completely recov
{ cred his mental ,babance. Madam,
' Lepaute. however. pushed the Wort
! TO an end. She traced the comet
! wanderings step by step for one hun
7 dred and fifty years. past each come
Y nd STAR that lay along its patch dur
: ing two whole revolutions in it's OF
E bit.
The results were mad public il
; November. 175S. and in o
y the same year they were verified b,
The temperance of the comet. TIA,
scientific triumph haralded SO Ora
matically startled the entire c~ivilize,
e world and made Halley's name. as h,
r had predicted. one that Dosterity will
remember. The actual time of reau
pearance was twenty-three days re
I moved from the date computed. bu
I as the weight of the interfering plan
cts was not then accurately known
a month had e allowed for the un
known influence and the event fel
S easily within the assigned limits O
e | error.
o Il 1t remained for the nineteenth cen
y fury to add the plotting O
the comet course to its long list O
scientific victories. A new planet
Ursanus was discovered and with thi
r factor introduced into the problem
the appearance of the comet in 1873
s was predicted within three days.
s mistake as trifiing as though an oceal
liner should reach New York from
Liverpool a minute OF so late.
III Its appearance at its visit to tn
8 earth In 1885 was one of unusua
e splendor. AS its angle to the Sill
G changed as II moved across the sky
II seemed first like a huge fan hiaget
upon a blazing head. the ribs of tn.
Q fan Grafchad In Tido nloarnir- NJ