Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1910-04-22
Some Facts About Comets.

Some Facts About Comets.
By DR.. Ephraim Miller, Pro-
lessor of Mathematics and AS
trOnomy, University Of Kan
saS, Lawrence, Kansas.
Nothing, perhaps, among celeS-
tlal bodies, arrests the attention
ana excites the admiration Of mer
SC much as a comet.
In ancient times the strangs as
pect of such a body, the pale
CLEAN of its nebulOuS head, and
lie long tail that sometimes re-
sembled a sword of fire, would
arouse in the mind Of the behOlde
lear and terror. In his ignorance
and superstition and in the wild
est fancieS of his imagination he
would fOretell the dethrOnement
Of kings, the downfall of nations,
wars, plaques, and innumerable
GERS. He believed that a huge
comet drew the waters Of oceans
out of their accustomed beds and
deluged the earth, and that the
Norman invasion of England by
" lam the COnquerOr, in 1866,
was brought about by Halley'S
come acting as a guide.
When Newton announced his
great law of universal gravitatiOr
and Haley applied it to the move
mentS of comets, and predicted
the return of the comet OF 1862
at the end of 76 years, a fatal
blow was struck at the ancient
superstitiOnS.
The apparitiOn of the famous
comet of 1S43 led to the fOunda
ton of the great Harvard COLLEGE
Observatory, instead of plunginG
the imagination into the very
depths of terror and unreaSOn
Today a comet is a thing Of beau
ty, an object of the highest inter
est.
There are four characteristic
in which these hairy wanderer
through space differ from planet
~ their nebulOus appearance an
their tails; ~ the great length
Of their elliptical orbits, as well 6
the orbits of those that never re
turn; (3) the inclination Of thei
orbits to the plane of the earth I
orbit; az the directions of thei
mOtlOnS-Some from west to east
some from east to west, some fro
the depths of space above us, an,
others from the depths of Spac
below us-all pursuing their cOul
SEES through the heavens apparen
Iy without any unity Of plan.
The tails of these bodies are
three kinds. Some are long AM
straight; some slightly curved
and others much curved an
bushy. Hydrogen gas seems to |
characteristic of the first kim
Hydrogen and carbon of the SCI
Ond, and carbon and iron Of tn
third.
The tail of a comet is Away
4 directed from the sun. Why
/ The best answer that can be gi7
en- is that by the great SwediS
scientist, Arrhenius. In recer
years it has been shown that tn
waves of light emanating from t
sun, are powerful enough to puS
before them particles of hydrO-c;
ron, and perhaps solid carbon /
the state of fine dust. Among Il
particles thus set free will be man
so small that the light waves fro
the sun will drive them away
This principle ArrheniuS has az
piled to the tails of comets
Clouds of such particles strear
off behind the advancing come
and the tails will be produced
On account Of thte tremendOu
disturbances in the head as tn
body approaches the sun, erruI
tons Of vapOr, due to the sofa
neat, occur in its nucleus and in
mense glowing envelopes an
streamers are thrust out in az
vance, but soon, through the a
ton of the lightwaves, they tax
up their line of march toward tt
rear and are then incorporate
with the tail.
During the last century, Il
years 1911, 1S43, 1858, 1861, 1877
1880 and 1882 were rendered mel
orable for the magnificent displ