Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-05-13
HALLEY'S COMET.
Is Visible to The Naked EYES
Approaching atRate Of 2.SO0,000
Miles a Day-RIses Earlier Every
M0rnine.

HVihitSs
Silhoutted against the distant sky and
appearing as if grouped with the moon
and Venus as the morning star. Hslley's
comet is now plainly visible from 8
O'Clock until daylight.
No glasses are required to see the
heavenly body that is speeding towards
the earth at the rate of about ], 200 miles
per minute. The comet ranked second
in point of perceptible size and first in
brilliancy. The length Of its tail is said
to be fifteen million miles and number
of those who saw the comet claim they
saw the tail more than thirty-two million
miles away, and that it appeared to be
ten to four hundred feet in length.
Those who care to observe the comet
as it makes its approach toward the
earth will have excellent opportunities
every morning until its arrival if the
weather is fair. It is coming this way
at the rate Of about two and a half
million miles q day and every time it
reappears in the eastern horizon it ap-
pears larger and larger as it gets nearer.
The superstitious and ignorant are
looking forward with alarm to the time
when the comet will come closest to the
earth, notwithstanding it will then be
thirteen million miles away.
Terror to thousands Of ipnocents will
result from the ill-sdvised announce
ment that Hallsy's comet-through
whose tail. we will shortly pass con-
tains cyanogen gas and hydrogen. q
combination possibly fatal to animal
life. Already the prophets Of the
nature faker school are at work describ-
ing very graphically how the human race
may be totally exterminated by asphyxia-
tion on May 1S.
Nothing has plagued mankind 80 per-
sistently as this fear of the end of the
world. and from earliest times criers of
the final calamity have been divided
between those believing that fire and
those believing that delpge would ex-
terminate mankind. More recently the
prevailing notion of SCIENCE has been
that cold and drought would gradually
eliminate our race.
The belief that fire will put an end to
our earthly history has been most
popular because of the biblical authority
therefor, and of the various astron-
omical phenomena considered as likely
to literally set the world on fire,
for the final holocaust comets have
always been looked upon as the likeliest.
Astronomers now believe the head of
comet to be q concentrated swarm of
meteors enveloped in gas. and the tail
to be a current of electrified gas pro-
ceeding from it. The spectroscope
shows that the gases composing comets
are chiefly hydrogen and carbon, while
sodium and iron have also been observed
in smaller quantities. These gases
become so rarified in the comet tail
that the faintest stars appear through
it, undimmed. as it sweeps the heavens
for millions of miles.
Just what will happen when we pass
through the tail Of Halley's comet May
l8 remains . source of wonderment even
to those whose minds are above the
common dread of the experience, To
these it may be said that the great tail
which we are to pass through is more
shadow than substance. This will be
appreciated the better when it is further
explained that our planet itself has al
times q comet tail-the aurora, OF
northern lights"-and that we have 9
number of times passed through tbs
tails of comets, notably in 1919 and
1851, without those events having beer
known until after the encounters oc'
cured. The only effects ever associated
with them have been some beautifu
sunsets.
But suppose we should come in con
tact with the head of comet and moi
merely the outermost tip of the tail, a.
will be the case May IS? Here is what
Professor w. H. Pickering, of Harvard
Observatory, has to say as an answer t.
this question:
Should we come in contact with the
head Of a small comet there would un
doubtedly be fine meteoric display
Thatis, in fact, probably what happened
in 1888, and also on number Of previ,
Gus occasions-notably in 472, 902, 1923
1902 and 1879. although the comet itsel
was not luminous.
'If the comet were moving rapid,
with regard to the earth, as in thes
cases. the motors would be consume,
at great altitude in our atmospher
and no harm would be done. II tn