The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-04-22
HALLEY's COMET
o LIKE A STAR
There is No Use Getting Up
at Four O'Clock in the
Morning to Watch For the
Comet.
o CAN'T SEE 1T E.

" " NlNNh W wv hbi hAhk W
for Halley's comet, for you wouldn I
be able to recognize it If you saw II.
II looks like n star now, and there IL
nothing to distinguish it from any of
the stars that are shining at that time.
OF course. If YOU come in about 3 or
I in the morning it will be all right
TO tell your wife you were out looking
for the comet aud show an interest in
astronomical affairs. but don Z get mad
II she also wants to stay out and hunt
for the comet. She has as much right
as YOU have to be Interested in comets
and things. But there isn I any tail
To the comet now or NJ least not 81 YOU
can see 1t, and If you are looking for
u comet now with IA tail you will be
disappointed. And you will keep ON
being disappointed for several days To
come, according to the verdict of Chi
cage astronomers who are watching for
the first appearance of the comet since
its swing around the sun.
The astronomer have given out SO,
eral interesting facts, which should be-
kept for reference. Some of these facts
are:
II j. q waste of the layman' : time
to stay up all night or rise early in
the morning to see the comet.
When the comet appears in the cas-,
1t will be ~ u very faint star, scarce
~ visible to the uuuided eye.
For several days to come it will be-
visible tf mists do not interferc) on
~ between 4 aud i:2u u. m. low down
in the eastern sky.
Those who expect Ia see "a great dis
play will have To wait four or five
weeks-say until about May Is to May
%. Then the comet will be at its best.
It, tail will stretch far across the sky.
On May Is the earth in all probabil
ity will pass through the comet = tail.
1 he tail consists of the most poison
Ous substance known-cyanogeu-the
chemical compound that makes prussic
acid So deadly and swift in it's action.
Mixed with the cyanOgen is acctylcnc
gas, but deadly AS these gases are. they,
will not hurt any living thing, 50 thin
are they in the tail of the comet.
eve determined in January that the
main constituent of the tail Of Hal
ley comet was c%yanogen,' said Prof.
Edwin Il. Frost of the Yerkes obscr.
vatory. There is also acetylcnc gas
in il. Now while it is true that cyna
ogen in any appreciable quantity would
be deadly to living things, it is so
thin in the comet : tail that nobody
will feel the effects Of il, even if We
pass directly through the tail-which
: not yet absolutely certain. when
the calculations were made the comet
was coming straight AT the earth, and
"A very slight error in the calculation
would make Il very big difference when
the comet gets around TO US. The tail
is l~j,OOO,0OO miles long, but the earth
is a very small body, n If an error
was made-only IA slight one-we would
fall short of the tai and miss II alto
gether.
Prof. Daniel j.. MclIugh of the De
Paw university gets up every morn
ing to sight the comet with his tele
scope.
81 would advise all who have not II
telescope to stay in bed mornings foi
n uuaak tr tHFn - In uut1 mouth
ago | thought the comet would be Wis
lille to the naked eye about this time.
Should It be IL will appear ~ a very
small star.
cit WI be seen in all it's magnih
%cence, however, in the evening In about
"A month from now. Then IL will be-
worth looking at. The tail should span
about one sixth Of the entire sky. Al
is a smooth, straight band Of light
that comes out from the comet like u
great finger. In length ii should be
equal TO about thirty times the width
Of the full moon.
There seems not much doubt that
we will pass through the tail, but
there will be no danger 10 living crea
lures. How will it looki Well, a.
the earth passes through the tail the
western sky should be magnifcently
illuminated from the horizon Ia the
zenith in the west. The material Of
the tail is so thin that 4 believe the
earth 3 atmosphere will blow it aside
and go right through it. ! do not be.
lieve that the stuff in the tail will even
reach the lower layers of the earth y
atmosphere"