The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-05-19
COMET KEPT I'm GUESSING
BCT NOBODY OYER HERE
GUESSED a NOlHS DELUGE.

TAN u Yea Think Yea Gan see Them
It's mighty hard proposition 10 try
70 reconcile all the varying accounts
of the personal appearance Of that comet
10 which the name Of Edmund HALEY.
ESQ. was attached several years after
Il was provided with a tail. Astronomy
il an exact science. perhaps YOU think.
but any Oh who has been trying for the
last few days TO find harmony among
the bright stars in this branch Of learn
ing knows that they don't always or
chestrate the music Of the spheres In the
same key.
To get the reason for this down 10 where
most Of M can understand IL, one man
pointed a parallel instance. suppose
six persons see a murder committed
on a street corner and all sig OF them
walked up 20 a policeman and handed
him their names When il came time for
them to tell their stories the chances
are that there would be sax distinct de-
scriptiOns of the man who shot and ran
away He WOuh he stout. thin. tall.
medium In size, dark. light. with and
without a mustache and whiskers. slouoh
halted and bareheAded, excited. calm,
Italian and Swede. and shabby and
(most certainly well dressed None II
the six would he trying 10 throw con-
fusion into the police mind. Each one
Just couldn't help injecting a little
Of his personal equation into what he
saw, and his memory was colorrd in con-
sequence.
OF course 1t isn't as bad as that with
the astronomers because they are men
who have trained themselves to separate
their temperaments from their work
They aim 10 record and report exactly
what they see and nothing else hut
they all have individual lities. and no ma tier
how they try. two men can { see the same
thing the same way Also the differences
in climatic conditions have lot IA do
with II
These discrepancies are especially no.
ticeable in the figures about the tails
length One man slys that e Is 2O.OOO GO
MILES long aud that IL can't possibly be
any longer Another denies whist his
brother skysWeeper has affrmed and
tells W that h- saw it, length spreading
ont clearly 1S.OOOOO miles Maybe il
was a little cloudy when the first man
made his cOmputltion. or perhaps the
second man was a little too anxious 20
find something further out there in the
ether Taking the other side Of the picture.
however. a little matter Of a few million
miles. when you get out there where there
II nothing but the current idea 81 a very
successful VOID. mustn't be taken too seri-
Ously las just step.
80 when YOU hear that the comet head
10 about 30 90 miles in diamster what do
you care whether that hits IL exactly or
whether it's a very few thousand miles
one way OF the other You aren't buying
real estate out there, you know. and
approximate figures ought 10 he enough.
Most Of them agree that the bulk Il the
head IL 1900 times larger than the earth.
There's a unanimous vote also on the
computation that the head was itOuO 90
miles from W. when We bOTed ahead last
night aud met the frisking tail. How
much was lying out ON the other side
depends upon your idea IL the total
length. anything from 900 90 miles On
up.
As for the thickness Of the tail. yOu are
permitted "a place your bst anywhere
betwaen go OO0 and 500 .0OO miles.
You can find authority FOR believing that
the tail goes on - way In two parts or one:
that il u made up % particles 81 some
thing like dust or that il particles are
electrified Or you may be justified In
thinking that its really nothing but
hight focused through the comets head
from the sun and shooting into the sky.
much a. the rays 81 a searchlight pene-
trats darkness. In which case it would
apparently h. straight not curved.
Some one has figured out that when the
comet Whisked around the sun on April
~ is Perihelion passage they call it
the Haley wonder was going az SIS
miles a second Az that time u was snug
Cling up very close 10 the principal
attractor. not much more than IS co. ON
miles away IN fact. II YOU think that
isn't very sOCiable Just remember that
when i gets a. far "a a. possible there's
something like $50 on. 900 miles be-
tween them. Which is considered some
distance, even IN astronomy. for if's a
good ways outside the orbit u Neptune
Scientific New York didn't seem 20
care whoOp yesterday whether the
comets tail developed M or not. There
were just about no preparations az all
being made % take observations. Natu-
NMAlN INV Jaw NAANA inv NAiAHN tAHNAA
across the face 81 the sun az a time when
folks on the other side % the world were
getting all the sunshine made New York
star gazers a little blas9 about b. Man
hsttanites are accustomed 20 have thinRs
happen right here. and the idea Of having
the middle ring of the circus away over
az japan disjolnted the local scientific
nose Mr. Haley should have made
his arrangements with more considera-
ton
A. the Weather Bureau they we're go
inE around a. Il nothing extraordinary
was about 20 happen. Prophet Scarr
had a laugh al the idea that the showers
Of yesterday morning were caused by
the comet Ne showed on the map where
n was raining in the middle West night
before last and traced the progress Of the
storm centre across the mountains. II
struck this city a little sooner than he
had expected, hut that he said. was
just another case Of the weather man being
wrong.
When he was told about the French
predictions Of heavy rains he asked
-Where2" There hadn't been any spe-
Cific spots indicated he was informed
Well. then. the FrenchmAn is safe
he said. There's hound 20 he rain, and
heavy rain al that, somewhere around
the world. But as for the comets effect
Just plain nonsense
As 10 torrential rains caused bv a COM