Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-04-28
WILL PASS Between THE EARTH
AND SUN ON MAY 18TH, WHEN
THE EARTH WILL PLUNGE
THROUGH THE COMETS TAIL,
The PHENOMENON WILL BE
VISIBLE ON OUR WESTERN.
COAST AND ON THE PACIFIC
OCEAN.
THE COMET WILL BE VISIBLE
EVENINGS DURING THE
GREATER PART
OF MAY.

OF MAY.
AS the time arrives for that passage
Of Halley's comet between the earth
and the sun for which the astro-
physicists and the astronomers Of
this globe have made such costly pre-
parations, a well-defned fear with
reference to the phenomenon asserts
itself in the scientific mind. 1t is no
such fear as made this comet port
ent to the middle ages. 1t takes the
form Of uneasiness as to whether as
tronomers, to quote the Paris Cosmos,
will not find themselves in the posi-
tion of municipality which, having
assembled it's town council and it's
brass band to welcome distinguish
ed politician at the railway station,
learns that he has proceeded to his
destination in an automobile. Most
elaborate preparations have been ef-
4 'cted to keep Halley's comet under
Instrumental observation during the
whole period of this year that it re-
mains within sight of an observatory
in either hemisphere.
The celestial visitor attained its
perihelion-or point nearest the sun
--on the twentieth of April, while on
the second of May it's traverse of
the orbit of Venus occErs some six
million miles above that planet. This
means that on Venus the comet must
present an infinitely more sublime ef-
fulgence and magnitude than any ter
restrial observer could be in posi-
ton to detect. 1t is not until the
eighteenth of May that the comet
crosses the face of the sun, when the
earth will be enveloped in the tail
for a period calculated in the astro.
nomical bulletin of the Greenwich OBJ
servatory as over three hours. It Is
not yet absolutely established by ma
thematical calculation, according to
Professor T. J. J. See, OF the naval
observatory in California, that Hal
ley's comet will pass over the suns
disk on May 18th, but it is a reason
ably certain event. If a transit Is
going to occur, the news will be tele-
graphed to the four corners of the
earth so that everybody may be on
the lookout for so extraordinary a
phenomenon. In any case, the comet
will pass quite near the sun and will
be very brilliant just before and after
it passes the suns disk" Such an
occurrence ought to produce certain
perceptible phenomena in the earth's
atmosphere, says Paris Cosmos, altho
it is not expected that they will be
perceived without close observation.
There is, for example, we read in
our scientific contemporary, not the
least probability that the gases of the
comets tail will affect the lungs of
any living being on this planet or that
the cometary dust will affect the
earth's weather. Yet the contact
might be perceptible to one of the
senses. For instance, after the explo-
sion of Krakatoa and also after that
Of Mont Pelee, a faint reddish brown
ring like a corona was seen about the
sun by many observers. In both cases
It was due almost certainly to finely
divided dust thrown up to great
heights and then spread widely about
the upper atmosphere. The size Of
these dust particles was calculated to
.be about equal in radius to a wave
length OF visible light. They were
consequently excessively small, "and
It is possible that after passing thru
the tail of a comet something OF the
same kind may be seen" In any
event It is certain that q careful look
out for something Of the kind VIII
be kept. 1--WE may expect that very
minute particles Of some kind VIII lie
in the earth's path, and this may
bring about certain notifications IN
our outlook upon familiar, objects OF
the sky" Thus the color Of the sun
depends upon the size and number of
solid and liquid particles thru which
we see it and may therefore be tenn
porarily modified IN the course Of this