Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-15
Some Things You Want to Know
HALEY and His Comet.

Andrew jackson was president Of the
United States and in the very thick OF his
fight against the money power" II then
turned back, and journeyed oward In
finity until after the close Of the civil war,
when, in the middle Of Grants first term.
It started back toward the earth at the
same mad pace that had characterized its
going.
Each time one OF these black sheep of
the celestial family, as the comets have
been called, appears to mortal sight II is
less bright than It was before. AS they
fly through space the solid matter they
cast off pours over them, with the result
that each succeeding return finds them
lees brilliant. Some of those with short
circuits have shown up as mere ghosts OF
their former selves, and rave finally failed
to return altogether. But about the time
they were due to return the earth crossed
their orbit and encountered a meteOrio
shower. causing the scientists to under
stand that meteors are but the flying
debris Of an exploded comet.
There has been some discussion as to our
chances Of collision with this returning
vagabond Of space. That we may Craze its
head by a miss Of only about 49, 900, 900 miles
is predicted, and that we may even pass
through its tail is said to be more than a
bare possibility. But as this tail Is less
substantial than the best vacuum man
has been able to produce, there seems to
be little possibility Of serious damage even
IL we do sail right through it. 1t is
recorded that our grandfathers went
through the tail of a comet in 1919, and
that our fathers did the same thing in 1851.
Some astronomers think we could collide
with the very head Of the comet itself and
still escape unscathed. Prof. Pickering
thinks we have struck at least one inn
portant comet, and that It did no serious
damage. He thinks the great hole in the
earth at Coon Butte, Arizona, was made
by the core of a comet striking there. He
calls attention to the fact that there have
been 1S2 meteorltes Of iron found in the
western hemisphere, as compared with
seventy-nine on the eastern, and concludes
that inasmuch as they were most abundant
in the country contiguous to Arizona, they
are evidences OF a collision Ia which the
Coon Butte hole was the principal damage
sustained.
There were 292 meteorites observed to
fall in the nineteenth century. and only
twelve of these were of iron. Most astron-
omers believe that iron meteorites are of
cometary origin, while those Of stone are
of tessestrlal origin, having at some re-
mote time in history been hurled away
from the earth by some tremendous
cataclysm. 1t must have been a terrific
explosion that sent them wandering
through space, for it has been proven by
the scientists that IL a terrestrial object is
to get away from the magnetism of the
earth it must have an initial velocity OF
seven miles a second. OF course, the
highest explosive known has no such
tremand0la nnwnr II IL Ona of those
things which have been theoretically
proven but not practically demonstrated.
Comets have different gaits. Some move
a hundred miles a second, and others loiter
along at only ten to twenty miles a second.
Some of them have to travel. around such
a vast orbit that 1t takes them thousands
of years to make the curcuit. Some Of
them fly In a straight line, perhaps,
through unending years. II would take
the kind which travel a hundred miles a
second more than 5000 years to reach the
nearest star.
No men in all the world have such a
sense of mans littleness as those who are
the s~entinels on the astronomic watch
towers. We think we are something, but
they exclaim with a feeling that David
never knew, What is man that Thou are
mindful of him?" The earth looks big to
TIC dNCNdBS mutual, pul lHO dSlIOnOulSTb
know that it is smaller in proportion to
the universe than the tiniest germ that
dwells in our blood. They see one star SO
far away that although it travels 200 miles
between clock ticks in 1000 years it seems
to move only through the diameter of three
and a half moons. They know that this
whole mighty universe is moving inward
at the tremendous gait OF twenty-slx miles
a second, but when It comes to telling
whether It is moving in a circle OF In a
straight line, where the end OF the journey
will be. or what the source of the infinite
power that propels 1t onward, they stand
as helpless and dumb as untutored children.
They must confess that, there are realms
in Gods universe where human reason
cannot go.
ny FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.
TomOrrOw-TEE STATUE OF LEE.