El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-01

Diameter of Planets.
Though the Angular diameter of the
sun and moon are about the same, their
real diameter in miles are very much
different because the moon is so much
nearer US In the same way The length
of the tail in miles may be ascertained
when we know the distance in miles
that It is from us. Early in May the
tail was 25.000,OO0 miles long.
The prevalence of superstitious fear
in this year of our Lord, 1910. with the
daily newspaper ready to disseminate
the splendid results of modern science.
gives some inkling of the dread that
these monsters of the sky must have
caused in years gone by.
This is being written (May Il, before
we pass through the tail OF the comet
on May 49,, with the confident expecta-
ton that we shan be alive to tell the
tale after that day.
No Danger From Gas.
If the truth were wholly known, there
was no danger whatever from the cyan
ogen in the tail. The composition of the
comet and its tail is made known by the
spectroscOpe. Early in May the spectra
were of remarkable interest Plates
taken ct Yerkes, Lick and Flagstaff
observatOries asTee in showing a strong
continuous spectrum with faint traces
OF FraUnhOfer lines due to reflected
sunlight with strong bands due TO by
drOcar5On together with the Cyanogen
band, the strongest in the whole spec
trum- In addition the sodium lines ap
peared, but not so prominently as IN
Comet \, 1910. The strange behavior
of the spectrum was that though the
cyanogen band was strong in the head
of the comet, it was lacking in the tail.
Moreover. the spectroscope test is an ex-
ceSsively delicate one, capaDIe OF de-
tectinG minute quantities of material
For instance, if a grain of ordinary salt
were divided into a million parts, and
one of these placed in a gas flame, the
spectrum would display the certain
badge showing the presence of sodium
two strong lines in the yellow part of
the spectrum.
To harm life on the earth, the cyano-
gen would have to be mixed with the air
in comparatively large quantities. The
small amount of this poisonous gas in
the tail as reve3ied by the spectroscOpe
and the extreme rarity of the tail COM
pared with our atmosphere shows the
utter absurdity of imagining injury to
Is. No doubt the comet in the evening
sky viii have presented as fine an ap-
pearance as it displayed in the morn
ings. and much Of novel interest Will
have been learned in the fortnight be
fore this is read.
Comet Still Visible.
Though the comet is getting fainter
each night, it should be readily fol-
lowed throughout June with the naked
eye by those who know where to look
for IT. In fact the result Of reliable es-
timation 5y Dr.. EbelI show that the
comet should still be seen with the
naked eye nearly to the end of July. AT
the end Will be found a table to assist
In finding the comet. BY referring 10
the map il will be seen that il is moving
eastwards through the embarrassing
Sextans The only bright
star that it approaches is Regulus IN
The Sickle, which is u degrees north on
June 3.
During June the SUM is moving east
ward among the stars faster than the
comet and the angle between them is
being lessened with the result that the |
comet sets earlier each night.
The numbers given for the stellar |
magnitude of the comet is an estimate
Of the effect of the whole light of the
comet on the eye A sixth magnitude |
star is at the limit of vision for keen |
sighted eye. and the comet viii not be !
IS faint as that till July j. Those who |
follow the comet after June 10 will be !
by moonlight, and the fainter |
portions of the tail viii be lost to view !
IN the sky Illuminated by moonlight.
The Planets.
The sun is at the summer solstice on |
June % at 2:49 a. m. Eastern standard |
time In spite of the fact that the |
greatest number of hours of daylight |
occur on this day. the sun does not set
attest. as may be seen by referring to |
he table below
Mercury is a morning star and will |
be visible toward the last an hour be-
ore sunrise from June IS TO June %.
Those who observed the comet in
April and May saw the bright morning
itar Venus. She has decreased in
brightness since then. but is still a fine
'bJect- On the morning of June 4, she |
passes very close to the moon on the |
iorth OF it. On the following morning
y enus and Saturn Will be so close to-
5ether that il will be hard to separate
hem by the naked eye. ana they viii
ppear In the telescope together
Mars is still visible in the west in the
arly evening, but it is now very faint.
jupiter is brilliant object toward the