Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-30


Is Of prodigious tenuty. The nucleus 10
supposed to be In a state ~ advanced
condensation. It may be either solid OF
LIQUID
However that may be, the total 0hass
Of the comet, Including ts nucleus, " in
smaller than that Of any OF
the planets. We have absolute proof Of
this In tho fact that no disturbance h
felt by the planets when the comet passes
In their neighborhood. When a stone falls
on the earth the force ot universal at
traction draws the stone and the earth
together; but the perturbation felt by the
earth Is insignificant compared with that
inflicted by attraction upon the infinitely
mailer mass, the stone. When Lexalrs
comet came near earth In lT70-it was only
100000 kilometcrs aWay--the comet de-
Waited vlsbly, although the earth showed
no sensible change OF movement.
The comet would have varied the years
length by three seconds had It's mass been
the equivalent OF the mass OF the earth.
But the astronomers watching II and
watching the earth noted no change. The
same comet passed between Jupiter and
its satlites without changing the period
Of their revolution.
what Are Comets Made orr
As far as man can judge, the cometary
mass is very weak; and the comet in all
but its nucleus is excessively dislntsrlCal.
Nothing could be more chimericaf thau
fear OF disaster by collision between the
comet and the earth, Such a collision is
possible, but a disaster is improba HE.
Probably the tails OF comets are comporbd
Of condensed particles as we'll as gas. The
gaseous center contains carbon In the triple
form OF cyonogen, carburate OF hydrogen.
and oxide OF carbon. So, presumably, there
arc in the cometary atmosphere carbon,
hydrogen and azote. The great comet OF
1881 contained sodium. Voge OF Potsdam
heated a fragment of meteoric stone in
Gelssler tube traversed by electric IN.
charges and studied the nature Of the us
contained in the stone. He found that V,e
gases were the same as those noted In
comets.
Tho tails OF the majority Of comets escape
from the star or nucleus like smoke blown
by the wind when the comet leaves the
neighborhood of the sun. When the comet
approaches the sun its tail stretches behind
it. When It has passed the sun its tail
passes ahead of its nucleus and precedes il
as 1t goes on it's Journey. There have been
exceptions to this rule: some abnormal
COMET lanS nave turned toward the sun.
But notable astronomers, including Kepler
believe that there is a natural repulslon be-
tween the sun and cosmic matter. Max
well and Bartoli made all the hypothesis
Of the astronomers agree by proving tho
existence Of what they termed the pressure
Of radiation. This theory is that when an
incandcscent body radiates heat and light
the waves are propagated around that body
To,
against American scientists have demon
strated the existence of the pressure of
radiation by means OF a sand-glass, usina
very fine emery powder and spores Of
calcined lycopodium instead of sand.
Concerning the Tail.
The theory of the pressure OF radiation
gives the only plausible explanation Of the
movements of comets tails when the
comets approach or recede from the sun
All that we know Of the constitution OF tho
sun, as we'll as information given In recent
works concerning the aurora borealis,
leads us to admit that the sun acts as a
powerful center of the electrons. or atoms
of negative electricity, necessarily pro-
jected into the dark abysses of space The
electrons so thrown out strike the gaseous
matter expelled from the meteorites form
ing tne tallS OF comets ana that matter
| abruptly spreads out in the surrounding
space. Thus is formed something that We
should call fog" composed of little drops
of gaseous matter When the solar radia-
tions exert their pressure on this fog the
particles run away, leaving behind them a
luminous furrow. But as the gas that has
not condensed is left, the cometary nebu-
losity congresses both little drops ana
gases, and the drops collect and diffuse the
light OF the sun.
| When Brooks comet appeared, in 1889.
1t was followed by four satellites Those
satellites Gas was proved at the tlme) had
been separated from the star during its
passage between Jupiter and Jupiter's
| satellites. When the same comet returned
seven years later, it was alone; It's satellites
were gone; it had found means to drop
them or they had gone astray.
Many dislocations of the same sort have
been noted. Biela's comet gave the world
striking proof of cemetery fragility. When
Biela's comet was first recognized II was
a brilliant star reappearing every sixth
year. In 1886 1t appeared in the form of
two stars which Travelled with unequaled
speed. The two stars reappeared in 1866.
when they were seen on two nights only.
That was the last of them. Since then
what was known as Blela's comet has
never been heard Of
1t Is easy to believe that 1t is the debris
of comets incessantly powderng the skies
IWNrkR l,I, III.