Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-12-25
Ml[EY COMETS
JOY WAVE FELT
Wonderful Pictures Looked For When
Speeding Body Nears the Earth
Great Results Expected.

Londt n, Dec 20.--The tale" Of the
great HALEY comet, which, according
20 NJ Camille Flammarion, the French
astronomer, may make every one die
ia delirium Of Joy or In an agony
w suffocation as IL brushes past the
earth, has already made It's numerous
influence felt at Greenwich OBSERVE
tory.
A wave OF amusement has just been
recorded by the delicate instruments
fDera AMI he ARtrpnomer Royal and
all bis assistants were seen to be
smiling FOR some abstruse reason as
hey peered through their great tele-
scopes
This may be the first sign Of the
aaroxysm Of mirth and delirlum in
which NJ Flammaril says the human
race may perish on or about May IS,
when the y-million-mile.long tail 81
Baliey's comet envelopes the earth
and snatches away all the nitrogen
from the air, leaving us only the too
celebrating oxygen to breathe.
Z Whatever may happen when its tail
arrives, the astronomers at Greer.
wieh are agreed that Halley's comet.
which is making return visit to the
arth4after seyenty-six years absence,
$ the most wonderous of all celestial
oyrotechnic phenomena
Already they have taken many pho-
bcgraphs of II although it ia not yet
IA sight OF the naked eye, aud the
pictures they hope to take next April
and May viii. it is expected, be the
most wonderful skyscapes ever OBJ
iained.
Malley's comet has still, however,
tong way to come. 1t is travelling on
its 100000. O00-mlIe journey in grea.
aaste and has won the leng-distance
record OF 18s, 50o,0 900 miles in seventy.
seven. days.
ats present pace in the direction oi
The earth is roughly:
2,500,0Oo miles a day, 1886 miles 4 !
minute, 20 miles "A second.
Al present the world and the comet
re rushing toward each other The
'srih is swinging on through space
win the yearly motion Of its orbit
an6 the Comet with a constantly accel. |
srsto5 motion as it approaches the I
sun by the middle of next May the /
comet viii be at its nearest to the
Run, and will then be a mere trine of !
iS,f46,0 600 miles from the earth. In
June it VIII he only 100000 miles
gWsy!
The comet has always played an
important part in history. The fam
'us Bayeux tapestry shows a curious
gcano when the hairy. fiery comet"
WIS seen in 1906 by the conquering
Yormans
a group OF warriors, seemingly con
vHlsed with laughter, are seen gazing
ata strange shape in the sky. sup
nosec 10 he the comet.
Some scientists eheerfully predict it
VII be the comet and not the world
That viii die Dr. II. II. Turner said:
'1ts probable end will be by disper-
sion into swarm of meteors. Some
of these outlying meteors our earth
~.zSay encounter at times, and so BE-
as up for q few moments by the ex-
1Iriug fragments of what was once
tavrif3..gEg comet
Astronomers the world over are pre-
partng fos ,he coming of the comet
England amt America are keenly COM
petms for the fullest records. 1t is a
gra&t astronomical race, for at pres
eat all the discoveries Of planetary
satelHtes oince the seventeenth cen
fury are equally divided between the
Two rnat4ors. Each country claims
eight discoveries.
Expeditions have been equipped in
both England and America for taking
Observations Of the comet during the
total eclipse OF the sun in May. 1910