The Washington herald., 1910-05-20

same way and for the same reason that a
curved
! In this comparison. the nucleus is the
nozzle. and its motion that Of the comets
milliou-miles-a-day progress along its
orbit or track. This curve can be known
! from the viewpoint Of the earth only by
delay in arrival, since the curve would
! be delinested on the plane of the elliptic
! in which the comet moves, the similar
plane In which the earth moves being
almost coiHcident. So, from the earth the
comet tail would look straight
Some effort was made 10 furnish
| statement of velocity with which the
comet stream is propelled by the solar
emanations outward into space The in
quiries made for the purpose developed
some Of the most interesting points Of the
whole subject.
sun "EmanntiOnS' Vary.
From the Bureau of Standards. under
direction or DR.. S. w Stratton. 1t was
learned the velocity Of the matter-Iii
"emanations' from the sun vary. accord
ing to kind. from ten 10 ninety-hve per
Z
quires eight and one-half minutes TO
travel the 92,Oc0OOO miles to the earth.
The light itself also acts as a propelling
agency for some or all Of the material
Of the tail But these velocities are TOO
high to give time room for the tagging
or curving observed
Several other influences operate one
is the time required for a propelled par
ticle 20 get under way" and equal the
speed Of the propelling force. Then the
action Of the gravitation toward the sun
operates in the opposite direction. both
retarding the yeloCities and further bend
ing the tail sunward. further fact is
that these different forces act differently
on different kinds of material in the
comet stream. so that several different
curves are produced, and, consequently.
different parts OF the tail sweep the earth
at different times. II the earth proves 90
be in their range
sun Spots shown.
Renewed sun-spot activity Just at this
time has added 20 the general celestial
entertainment Prof. George II. Peters.
Of the observatory. who has charge OF
the daily noon sun observations there.
found on his Photographic plate yester
day two new spots OF unusual size which
had come into existence since Wednes
day
He said these had taken the place OF
prominences or flames at the same point
the day before. the flames indicating the
beginning Of the activity or solar out
burst which yesterday was manifested
by the appearance Of the spots From
these points Of disturbance II is now be-
heved the matter-lille streams, or emana-
tons. are thrown. Prof. Peters esti-
mated the location Of the new spot pair
was such that the streams therefrom
would be likely to hit the comet, and so.
perhaps, cause some new event i'm its own
life Both he and Prof. Frank II. Bige-
low, of the Weather Bureau said the
sun-spot activity at the time of the
comets transit was purely a coincidence
The time from sunset to dark is Is de-
grees OF sun movement. or / hour and 70 |
minutes. Tonight the comet will SET
one hour later than sunset: on Sunday
? hours and % minutes: next Tuesday 2 /
hours and 20 minutes; next Thursday. 3
hours and 20 minutes; next Saturday. 4
hours and ) minutes.
Capt. De Witt Veeder director. and |
Prof George A. Hill. of the Naval OBJ |
servatory. have arranged two five-inch
telescopes on both the Senate and the |
House wings of the Capitol 10 give Con- /
gressmen and their friends facilities for
observing the comet Prof Hill will have |
pyeryt hing rrer,arpd for a Copurocc;r.,,r 1
comet party tonight at dusk