The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1910-04-22

In the April 10th issue of the "Sat-
urday Evening Post" Mr.. Waldemar
Kaempffert writing about Halley's
comet says:
During the month of August, 1909,
every telescope camera Of the world
was directed toward the Twins, part
ly as matter of astronomical routine,
but chiefly because in that particular
region of the sky the first photo
graphic glimpse of Halley's comet
might be obtained 1t fell to the lot
of a distinguished German astrono-
mer, DR.. Max Wolf, of Heidelberg,
whose special branch is celestial pho
Biography, to discover that famous &C.
lestial wanderer on September IL, 'O9,
almost exactly where he hoped to find
it. To an Impractical eye the comet
would have seemed like every other
speck of light on his negative. Even
the skilled Wolf detected it only by
it's movement; for it was never in the
same relative position on two plates
exposed twenty-four hours apart. On
all these early photographs the comet
was anything but that fearsome OBJ
iect which alarmed humanity when
it first flashed into visibility ages ago,
and reappeared at more or less reg
ular intervals of seventy-five to sew
enty-eight years. What Wolf saw on
his plates was merely an inconsp1cu-
GUS white blur, not much larger than
a pinhead, and unadorned with that
81 til. 1enr
a comets most striking characteristic.
AS it rushed on toward the earth and
the sun at the speed of three million
miles a day-a speed that will in
crease as it approaches the sun-the
comet became te'escopicalNv visible In
October. Soon after, distortions were
detected which were the first signs
Of a tail that will stream brilliantly
behind the comet when it is revealed
to the naked eye.
Because comets, unlike the planets,
are not confined to any one section or
space, an inuuiring mind may we'll
ask: How did Wolf know where
to direct his telescopic camera, and
how did he know what the shifting
speck of light on his negatives really
was?
Unlike most bodies of its kind, Hal
ley's is a periodic comet. 1t swings
around the sun at fairly regular inter
walls and is as much part of our
solar system as the Earth, Mars, Jupi-
ter or Venus. 1t has not only a per-
iod of revolution but history which
is intimately identified with the his
tory of civilization-for it blaZed in
the sky when William of Normandy
conquered England in 1866, when the
Turks were at war with Christendom
in 1856, when the great reformation
of Europe was at its height in 1881,
when Jamestown was settled in 1907
when Louis XIV was fighting his
enemies in 1852, and when the Seven
Years War of English history was in
full blast in 1859.
Two mathematicians Of the Green
witch Observatory, Messrs. Cowell and
Crommelin have made special study
of these past appearances. Arduous
is a word which but mildly expresses
the character of their labors. A
comet is pulled this way by one planet
and that way by another, for which
reason it's path through the heavens
is both devious and uncertain. Be
sides the perturbations of the known
planets, allowance had to be made for
disturbances caused by planets that
probably drift in space far beyond
the orbit of Neptune-2,791, 100000
miles distant from the sun-and
which may never be seen except In
the minds eye of the mathematician
Despite all these uncertain factors
there was not a minute since its last