Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-06-10
POINTERS ON COMETS
Interesting Facts That Were In
earthed by Bill Nye.
HIS STUDY OF SKY SCIENCE.

The Humorist's Researches Shed .
Flood of Brilliant Light Upon the
Peculiar Traits Of ths Astronomical
Parodies on tho Planets"
The famous American humorlst. Bin
| Nye. wrote the following article OH the
traits of comets for the San Francisco
number of years ago:
The comet is n kind VI astronomical
parody ON the planet Comets look
some like planets. but they are thin
ner and do NOT hurt so hard when they
hit anybody us Al planet does. The
comet waS SO called because II had
hair on IL. believe. but OF late years
the baldheadrd comet is giving Just
as good Satisfaction everywhere
The characteristic features OF the
comet are Il nucleus. n uebulous light
or coma and usually luminous train
or tail worn high Sometimes several
tails are observed on one comet. bur
this occurs only In flush times
When ] was young ! used To think
| would like TO be comet I'm the sky.
up above the world so high. with
nothing to do but loaf around and play
with the little new laid planets and
have good time. but now ! can see
where, WAS wrong. Comets also
have their troubles. their perihelIons.
their hyperbolas aud their parabolas. A
little over 300 years ago Tycho Brahe
discovered THAI COMETS were extrane-
Gus To our atmosphere. AMI since then
times have improved. I eau see that
trade Is steadier and potatoes run less
TO tops than they did before
Soon after that they discovered that
| comets all had more or Iess periOdici-
~. Nobody knows how they get 1t.
All the astronomers had been watch
/ ing them day and night and didn't
know when they were exposed. but
there was no time ia. talk and argue
over the question. There were 200 or
800 comets all down with II at once.
II was an exciting time.
| Comets sometimes live to a great
age. This shows that the night air is
not so injurious to the health us many
i people would have us believe. The
/ great comet of 1850 is supposed 10
have been the one that was noticed
about the time of Caesars death. a.
| Il. G.. and still when IL appeared In
Newtou'S time. LOO years after its
{ first grand farewell tour. Ike said thai
il was very well preserved indeed and
seemed. 10 have retained all its facul-
ties I'm good shape.
late writer on astronomy said thar
the substance OF the nebulosity and
the rail is of almost Uncomfortable
tenuity. He said this. and then death
came 10 his relief.
Another writer says OF the comet and
its tail that the curvature OF the lat.
ter and The acccleration OF the periodic
time in the case of Encke's comet In
dicate their being affected by resist.
ing medium which has never been OBJ
served TO have the slightest influence
ON the planetary periods"
do not fully agree with the emf.
nent authority. though he may DC
right. Much fear has been the result
of the COMETS appearance ever since
| the world began. and IL * ns good a
thing To worry about as anything /
know of. II we could get close TO a
comet without Frightening II away we
would find that we could walk through
IL anywhere as we could through the
glare or torchlight procession. We
should so live that we will not be
ashamed TO look comet In the eye.
however. Let us pay up our newspa-
per subscription and lead such live
that when the comet strikes we will be
ready.
Some worry a good deal about the
chances for a big comet TO plow into
the sun some dark. rainy night and
thus bust up the whole universe.
wish that WAS all had To worry
about-the comets crashing into the
sun and knocking Its daylights out.
There Is much I'm the great field of
astronomy that Is diScouraging TO the
savant who hasn't the time or means
10 rummage through the heavens. Az
times ! am almost hopeless and feel
like saying 10 the great. yearnful. hun
cry world:
"Grope on forever. do not ask me
for another scientific fact. Find IL out
Yourself. Hunt up your own new laid
planets and let ME have a resi-. Never
ask me again 10 sit up all night and
take care of the newborn world while
you lie in bed and reck not"