Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-02-23
EARTH AND COMET MAY
COLLIDE IN SPACE
HALEY Comet Visible in.
Short While.

schools, and one Of the leading South
ern writer's on astronomical subjects,
writes as follows on the approaching
transit of Halley's comet:
Now that Halley's comet is rapidly
approaching the earth, and is soon to
become an object of great popular in
terest, the public will desire to know
the leading facts concerning the ia
nous celestial visitor, and to learn
something of its eventful history.
In just what part of the heavens it is
at present, when and where it may be
seen best, when it will be nearest the
earth, and what danger, if a ny, is
There of collision with our globe, are
some of the questions that are nat
urally asked.
When Nearest the Earth.
Tie comet is at present in the con
stellation Pisces, about half way from
the zenith down to the western hozi-
zon at dark, and about eight degrees
west of the planet Saturn. 1t is not
yet visible to the naked eye, and as il
is approaching the sun, it will soon
be lost in his rays till about April /,
when twill reappear in the morning
sky ahead of the sun.
On March "a it will be on the opp3-
site side of the sun from us, and on
April 20 it will pass its perihe1ion at a
distance of fifty-four million miles
from the sun. From that time till
May Is it will be a glorious spectacle
in the morning heavens. On May IS
it will pass directly between the earth
and the sun, when it will be only
twelve million miles from us.
AS it sweeps rapidly by us it viii
pass from the morning to the evening
sky again, and after a few weeks it
will bid us adieu for it's long journey
into the depths of space, not to return
to US again in three-fourths of a
century.
Directly Over SUMS Disc.
AS it rushes by us May IS it will
pass directly over the disc of the sun
and fine opportunity will be afforded
to test by observation the size and
character of the nucleus.
If it consists of solid particles Of
considerable size, or Of dense aggrega-
tons, it will be projected as a dark
mass against the bright face of the
sun, but if it is composed of gas
only, or of very small particles widely
diffused, it will pass across the sun as
an invisible mass.
1t is not improbable that the earth
at that time may become involved in
the nebulosity of it's tail but the mat
ter composing the tail is so extremely
tenuous that the earth will in all
probability pass through it without
any sensible effect.
The transit of the comet across the
face of the sun will take place during
the night on the western hemisphere,
and hence we could not see it any way.
but astronomers on the opposite side
of the earth will doubtless observe this
phenomenon with great care.
75,O00I0O0 Miles i'm Space.
The orbit Of Halley's comet is a very
elongated ellipse, extending out into
space five hundred million miles be-
yond the orbit Of Neptune At its
perihelion it's distance from the sun is
ffty-four million miles. or somewhat
less than the distance of the planet
Venus.
It's motion in it's orbit is retrograde;
that is, it moves around the sun in an
opposite direction to that of the plan
cts It's orbit is inclined about eigh-
teen degrees to the plane of the
earth's orbit, and these two orbits are
SO related that collision between the
earth and the comet is impossible
Ii 1t Hits the Earth.
There is much uncertainty about the
composition of cometary masses, but
the spectroscope shows that the head
is composed of gaseous matter involv-
ing probably masses of solid matter
closely grouped together The tail con-
sists of gas, chiefly hydrogen, in a
state of extreme tenuity. The fact
that the tail is always turned from the
sun has led to the theory that the mat
ter of which it is composed is driven
off from the head by some repulsive
force of the sun. Several ingenious
theories have been advanced to ac-
count for the phenomena of comet
tails, but none Of them are altogether
satisfactory The head of a comet
generally possesses some self-lumin-
osity, but the tail owes it's light to
solar reflection.
The possibilities of a collision CT
the earth and comet and the prob
able results of such an occurrence,
have often been discussed, but owing
to our ignorance of cometary masses,
such discussions are little better than
speculations. That such a collision is
possible no one will deny, but the
probability of it is extremely remote.
If a comet of small size and density
should run full tilt against the earth,
our atmosphere would probably pre-
vent serious damage. A brilliant me-
teoric shower would doubtless be wit
/ messed, but that would be ALL But II
a large meteor of great density should
collide with the earth the result would
doubtless be more serious. Aside from
the impact of the solid masses against
the earth, the gases suddenly diff
fused into our atmosphere might be
fatal to life