The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1910-04-20
HaLIEy'S COMET

to f@.!0s..-.- ,-IJlcie by a weN-read
young lawyer of this city will be of
considerable interest at the present
time:
The long looked for Halley's comet,
the largest known sky wanderer, is
now visible to the naked eye. Though
faint, Its appearance as comet may
readily be traced. and its immense
tail is visible as a sheet of light ek-
tending upward from the direction of
the sun, as is the case with all comets
It was first discovered by the in
struments September L, 1909. but IL
appeared then as a mere light, or
speck in the distance, and as 1t came
nearer it became more perfect, until
it was in plain view Of the instru-
ments, it's features as comet readily
traced, and its enormous tail, said TO
be 100000 miles in length. dis
tance too great to be understood or
appreciated-fully developed.
On the morning of March "a, 1910.
this huge thing of the sky passed by
the sun on it's way around it, having
become lost for some days on the op-
posite side Of the primary by his rays.
which he visits once every seventy
five to seventy-six years, according to
the effect the planets Saturn and
Jupiter have upon him by altering his
orbits as he sweeps by them, and
since this date has been visible to the
glasses a few moments before sun
rise. AS he proceeded on his way to-
ward his perihelon, he became bright
er, rose earlier. and shortly afterwards
became visible to the naked eye.
Since the above date he has been rap
idly approaching the earth, and on the
morning of April 20, reached his peri
helion, that is. the point nearest the
sun, at which time he is supposed to
be brightest, although not nearly SO
bright as he will appear in a short
time to US, as he will be many mill
ion miles nearer; in fact he will come
within 100000 miles Of the earth.
He may now he seen shortly before
dawn, just south of the line Of the
sunrise, and between that and Venus,
which may also be seen in the bright
est robes we have seen her in several
years. In fact this latter planet is SO
bright that a perceptible shadow may
readily be traced.
This comet will become brighter
each day, as he proceeds toward US,
and though only a faint light now,
one at which we have to look for
some time to distinguish it as a comet,
he will in a few weeks become very
bright and beautiful. He now rises,
and will continue for two or three
weeks, shortly after three o'clock in
the morning, but can scarcely be seen
before four, because of the haze which
hangs near to the horizon, but as he
becomes brighter, he can be seen
palmer.
On the morning of May IS. his gi-
Santic tail will sweep the earth. IN
fact it will extend many miles beyond
the outside of this small earth upon
which we live. 1t has been the nat
ura1 inquiry: What will happen to us?
Nothing. Twice within the past cen
tury astronomers have watched a
similar occurrence, and once the comet
was much nearer than this one will be
Nothing happened then, and the world
moved on as before, as it Will con-
tinue after we have plunged through
the tail of Halley's comet. The as
tronomers say that the heavens may
become light, and probably may be at
tended with a shower OF meteors, by
reason of the known relation between
comets and meteors, but no harm will
result to us. as this tail is composed
! of a light gaseous dust, so light that
! it's presence will not be known.
| After this time we will see him ir
the evening, just after sunset, a.
which time he Will appear almost as
| large as the sun. with a tail extending
over nearly one-fourth cf the heavens
| He will gradually become fainter, un-
, til he fades out. about July, but vii
| be watched for several weeks longer
| with the glasses, as he proceeds on his
| journey, and we (who i've now) viii
| never see him again. Only once in
! lifetime are We permitted to see him
| Probably some other world exist:
| when he is in aphelon, that will gaze
on him as he rounds another sun fa1
| in the regions of space. whose deptl
! the human mind cannot know, Strick
en- with fear at his return.
In this journey Halley's comet wa:
| not hindered by the attraction O.
| Saturn or Jupiter. but on his visit il
| 1859 he was delayed SIS days, as alsc
| he was delayed more than four month.
! on his last visit in 1885.
| Records exist of the appearance o.
| this comet in 1856, 1881, 1907, 1852
| 1859 and 1885, but it was not unit
! 1852 when he was associated, by Hal
| ley, from whom it obtained its name
| with the comets of previous years