The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-04-07
kind of weather during month that
has so many "alignments" as are
scheduled for May, it will be period
of unusual activity for the observa-

has so many "alignments" as are
scheduled for May, it will be period
of unusual activity for the observa-
tories.
AS an example of the worldwide
interest by all classes Of people in
Halley's comet, the following extract
from letter by Mr. R. T. A. liners,
director of the Transvaal observatory,
Africa, which appears in popular AS
tronomy for April, is of interest
"On the 18th inst. the Leader,
newspaper of johannesburg, inform
ed me by telephone that they had re-
ceived a telegram from the railway
station master at Kopjes, Orange
Free State, as follows: 'Halley's COM
ct was seen by Foreman Burke, Driv-
er Thicker and Guard Marais at 4:45
rising in front of the SUM-
The comet these men saw was not
Halley's, but the new comet which
was visible in our western sky in
January. The point to be noted is
that these workmen of South Africa
were familiar with the return of Hal
ley's comet.
Contrary to popular belief, Ed
mund HALEY was not the original dis
coverer of the comet which bears his
name. But to him belongs the honor
of having made the first definite pre-
diction of comets return in its
orbit, and in recognition of his SER
vices astronomers have given to the
comet now claiming general attention
the name of HALEY.
In olden times comets were be-
lieved to be meteoric in character,
occurring only a few miles above the
earth and subject to no uniform laws.
About the sixteenth century Tycho
Brahe proved from observation that
they were heavenly bodies and not
merely atmospheric phenomena.
About 1880, Newton, in connection
with HALEY, proved the movements
of such bodies to be subject to the
attraction of the sun Halleys in
terest in this work led him to sys-
tematically study cometary orbits,
which finally ended in his famous
prediction. He began an investiga-
ton of large number of previously
recorded orbits with view to ascer-
tanning whether any two of them fol-
lowed the same path. His researches
proved that the orbits of the comets
of 1881 and 1907 were similar to
each other and to that of the comet
of 1852, observed by himself. So he
advanced the supposition that these
were only three Temperatures of the
same comet, having period of about
seventy-five and one-half years. 1t
has now been identified with one
whose first recorded appearance was
in the year l 1 B. c. HALEY ventured
to predict it's return about the end of
1853 or the beginning of 1859.
HALEY died in 1742, but as the
year predicted for the comets return
drew near astronomers had faith in
him sufficient to make preparations
to observe it. The French astrono-
mer, Clairaut, took the matter most
seriously in hand, and taking into ac-
count the influence of some of the
planets upon it's orbit, he predicted
the comets perihelion passage on
April IS, 1859, with a possible error
of month either way. Astronomers
| began the search for it as early as
| the beginning of 1853, but it was
| first seen by an amateur named
PalitZsch near Dresden, on Christmas
day, 1853. 1t passed it's perihelion
on March ~, 1859, just within the
limits assigned by Clairaut 1t was
seen throughout Europe during April
and May.
The next temperance of the COM
ct, in 1885, on account of great pro-
gress in mathematics and astronomy,
was more accurately predicted, its
perihelion passage occurring within
five days of the calculated time. It
was first seen on August 6, 1885, and
by the last of September was visible
to the naked eye.
| The physical appearance of the
comet at this time was remarkable.
About the first of October the nucleus
was like fan-shaped flame emanating
from a bright point, changing within
a week to a form of stream of fire
issuing from the mouth of cannon
when the sparks are driven back by a
wind. On November 5 the nebulosity
independent of the flame had an
arched form, somewhat resembling a
powder horn.
These changes in the comet pres
age interesting things to be observed
during the next few months, but moth
ing definite as to this appearance can
be predicted. w. D. Morehouse.
tThe author wishes to acknowl-
edge the assistance of Miss Alma
SCOTS, who compiled the historical
sketch