Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-30
HOBOES OF The HEAVENS
Docked Tales About Comets and Their
Orderly Movements.
ANTIQUITY OF HALLEYs ROUNDER
Contrary Theories Worked out by
Astronomers - PecuIiRrities of
some OF the other well
Known visitors,

Snce the year u, before the Christian
era Halley's comet has returned regularly
every seventy-flve years from its Journey
beyond Neptune toward the confines OF the
solar system. II perlodicity was assumed
for the first tibe by the English astronomer
HALEY, who predicted its return at the
close Of the year 175S or the beginning OF the
year 1859 It appeared in March, 1863, and
proved the periodicity Of one comot--from
which the return OF others was inducible.
Comets must not be eonfounded with
stars They have their own places and their
own movement in the heavens. Nor can
they be considered az planets because
planets turn around the sun In the same
direction, while comets have been known
to travel as fast in one direction as In an
other. Some comets are tsllless others
grow tails when they are in the vicinity
Of the sun.
II there were no other distinguishing
features the transparenee OF comets and
the feeble density OF their constituent
matter would be enough to show that they
are not stars. The matter which constitutes
the stars Is much more condensed than
cometary matter. Only the comets OF great
dimension that pass close TO the
sun-are visible to the naked eye. II is
probable that many pass the earth unseen,
since the astronomers can observe but a
limited portion OF the armament. Thous-
ands, perhaps millions, traverse our planet
airy system in the course Of a year; and
we may say with Kepier that there are
as many comets in the heavens as there
are fishes in the sea.
Obeyin@ the Law.
All the celestial travellers obey the law
of Eravtaton. Nothing but the law OF
gravltation can explain the eometary move
ment The influence OF the planet Jupiter
has been known to retard the re-appear-
ance OF Hailey's comet 51s days, while
Saturn has retarded It 100 days.
| Comets coming from afar may become In
volved by some uncalculated influence and
attached to our planetary system, but such
lIaisons are not indissouble. Any new
planetary perturbation may send the
transient shooting through the vast fields
Of space again.
Kant, Faye and others bequeathed TO us
profound conceptions concerning the stars,
and recently Fabry advanced the theory
that the universe was filled with cosmic
matter by a gesture of the Creator. and
that the matter so given was distributed
| IT
! pose to be governed as It has been gov
erned. only by the Newtonian laws Of at
traction; that by action OF that force mat
ter is set in motion, centers of concentra-
tion are designated, and the world is peo-
pied, but that there still remain suspended
in ether nebulous residues that come too
late to take part in the formation Of the
sun ard the planets which are still coming,
little by little, in flakes to the trysting
place fixed by attraction.
II they were as far distant as astron-
omers calculated that they were when they
began their allotted work, 1t viii take them
10000 years to accomplish their descent.
II they were placed ten times farther away
on that first day when their work was
laid out for them, they will, though nearer
than the nearest stars, take 100000 years
to fall to our level. In any case, they arc
nothing but portions Of the primitive nebula
which has been in evolution since its origin
without exchanging any matter with the
rest Of the universe
solar Strays.
This is Fabry's idea. But not all astrono-
mers agree with him. Laplace called
comets little nebulas straying through the
solar system" Schapareli believes. with
Stromgren. that there are comets which
come aboard" our planetary system from
the center OF gravity Of the great universal
whole formed by the sun and the planets
and that they do not come either from ar
origin or coordination or from the solar
center.
II Stromgren's theory is correct the great
comet OF 1890 came toward earth at higf
rate of speed from some foreign system
What system was it7 Where is it?
Concerning comets all astronomers agree
as to their transparence; and 1t is ad
mitted also that the cosmic matter. con
sttuting all of the comet save the nucleus