The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-04-07
COMET WILL BE VISIBLE April.
18TH
Prof. Morehouse, of Drake Univ crsity
Gives Details of Heavenly Wis.
itOr'S Coming.

gIS udIS lldI Ids III ESllSl dl USSu COIl-
nected with the return of Halley's
comet, great interest is being arous-
ed in this historic object.
While it was rediscovered on the
morning of the 18th of September,
1909, and has since that time been
closely watched with the aid of the
telescope, it's distance from us and
also from the sun has been so great
that it has not become visible to the
naked eye. This fact has not been
understood by the general public.
Just now the sun is between the
earth and the comet, so that the
comet is above the horizon only dur
ing the day and cannot be observed
from any spot on the earth. The
comet, however, is going west in it's
path and the sun is going east Hence
in short time the comet will be on
the west side of the sun and will
make it's nearest approach to it on
the 18th of April. At this date. April
1Sth) the comet can be seen in the
east about two hours before sunrise.
Its tail will point up from the hori-
zon and should therefore be seen be-
fore the head, or brighter part of the
comet. 1t will continue to rise lit
tie earlier each morning for about
week, when it ought to be a beauti-
full in the morning sky. Its motion
from this time will apparently carry
1t back toward the sun and it will APP
pear to be going with the sun. The
reason for this seeming change in its
motion that it is coming between
the earth and the sun, and the much
talked of collision is about to occur.
On the 8th of May we have new
moon near the point where the path
of the moon passes through the plane
joining the earth and the sun. Hence
the earth will pass through the
moons shadow and we will have an
eclipse of the sun. Since the size of
the moons shadow is determined
by the distance of the moon from the
sun and by the diameter of the moon,
it can be accurately foretold what
parts of the earth will pass through
the shadow. The south pole is the
favored spot this time, the eclipse be-
ing visible only in the Antartic ocean
and the southern part of Australia.
In identically the same way Halley's
comet passes between the earth and
the sun on the 18th of May.
Its tail, like the moons shadow.
points away from the sun. The exact
dimensions of the tail do not depend
upon the size and distance of the
comet and, on that account, cannot
be determined. The phenomenon is
therefore much more uncertain than
in the case of the solar eclipse, but
that it is going to happen is just as
certain as that the eclipse will occur.
AT the time of the transit the
comets head will be only fifteen mil
lion miles from the earth and if it's
tail is that long Git will probably be
much longer), we will certainly pass
through large portion of it. While
it is very fortunate for the jewellers
OF the, earth to have the rare oppor-
tunity of passing through the tail of
so great comet, it is very unfortun-
ate for the people of the United
States that it occurs after most of
them have gone to sleep. The comet
will start to cross the sun at / 0 p. M
on the evening of May 18th, and will
occupy approximately an hour in
passing.
\ he observers on the islands of the
Pacific ocean will have the grand
sight of seeing great comet pro-
jected upon the sun. If the comets
head is a solid mass it will entirely
obscur the sun, according to the
measurements of Prof. E. E. Bar
nard, of Yerkes observatory. The
probabilities are, however, that it is
not solid and that the sun will not be
darkened appreciably. If there are
any solid particles as large as ten
miles in diameter, they can be seen
as dark spots on the face of the sun.
We in the United States will have
to be contented with seeing the tail
as it bends around our horizon and
spans our northern sky. On the
morning of May 18th the tail should
be seen to extend from the east to-
ward the west, and in the evening of
the 18th it should be seen in the west
extending toward the east On these
two dates the comet will be the
brightest. being seven thousand times
brighter than on the day of it's dis
covery
1t Will sweep by the earth at We
locity OF $500 miles minute. If we
add to this the velocity OF the earth,
we get an actual velocity of 3,4OO.
miles per minute. OF course if the
comets tail, whatever it's constitu-
ency, were as dense as our own at
mosphere, there would be wrought
dreadful havoc to this small planet,
but there need be no fear of this, for
comets tail is certainly lighter than
our own atmosphere at distance of
hundred miles from the earths sur
face. In fact, it is SO thin at any con-
siderable distance from the head that
it will take most delicate instruments
to detect that the earth is passing
through any new medium. The casual
observer will be wholly unaware OF
any unusual occurrence. There are
current now, even as there was at the
earlier appearance of this wonderful
object, forecasts of direful results.
such as that the earth would, catch on
fire or that we would become pois-
oned by the deadly gases, etc.
Such stories are completely with
out foundation and grossly unscien-
tific. 1t would pay everyone, how
ever, to watch for any beautiful dis
play that may occur in our upper at
| mosphere
We should therefore be eager for