The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1910-02-04
HaUeY'S Comet.

I The comet which made It's first
appearance few evenings ago 10 the
western heavens took the astronomers
as well as other mortais by surprise
1t is being closely observed and there
will doubtless be somethinr interest
ing to say about 1t very soon. 1t has
been called Derake's comet in honor
of Its first observer.
The most important astronomical
event of the present century is the
fnding of the celebrated Halle,'s
comet, Professor Max Wolf, of
Heidelberg, Germany, found 1t on
Photographic plate that was taken
Sept. II, 1909 AS soon as the dis.
covery was made known hundred
telescopes were pointed in the drec-
ton of the illustrious visitor.
Since its last appearance in 1895,
! Halley's comet has travelled millions
of miles beyond the orbit of Neptune
10 the icy cold of space. Now it is
coming our way.
1t is impossible to see the comet
at the present time with the naked
eye. But with a good six.inch tele-
scope, or even a three-inch glass lbs
position can be traced from night to
night. Those whe are not fortunate
| III N fnlnCnnnn tyil
have to wait until sometime la April,
before getting a naked-eye view Of
the comet. 1t will then rise shortly
before the sun, and will rapidly in
crease in brightness.
At the present the comet Is moving
towards the west in direction oppo-
site the motions of all the planets
around the sun. On April 10 it will
be nearest the sun and will move
with its greatest speed in its orbit.
Five days later IL will be headed in
the direction Of the earth but we
shall pass by unframed. At this
time, April "a, its motion will be
towards the east, and so it will cou
tinus to move. On the evening Of
May Is our visitor will be within
IA, 900, 200 miles of the earth, after
which for few days ID will move
among the stars at the rate Of 10
degrees per day, equal to one-siXth of
the distonce from the zenith to The
horizon,
On May IS the comet may be seen
a. a magnificent object appearing
shortly after sunset. 1t will get
higher and higher up in the western
sky each succeeding daJ.
II will probably travel across the
face Of the sun but there is no danger
Of 1t striking either the earth or the
sun. We shall probably pass through
its tail hut the only serious conse-
quence will be a meteorio shower,
which may in itself be glorious
sight 10 behold. However, we cannot
predict positively that the shower
will occur.
Halley's comet gives great promise
of being remarkable one. La May
it will be gorgeous spectacle In the
sky, a brilliant object with long
flowing tail, 80 degrees in length,
stretching one-third of the distance
from the horizon TO the zenith.
In the summer of 1882, Halley's
Genet was very extensively observed
By two Engllshmen, HALEY and
Flamsteed. and by OassIni at Paris,
aud by many others. Some years
after this, HALEY. undertook the
labor of calculating tie elements OF
all the comets which had been sufii
eiently observed TO enabled him to do
so. A comparison Of the elements
Of all the comets thas computed by
HALEY showed that those which
appeared In the years 1881, 1907 and
1882, were moving In orbits very
similar to each other. hence he was
led to conclude that they were
successive appearances Of the same
comet, revolving aronnd the sun 10 a
period OF about75 or 76 years; and he
was more confirmed in this by the
fact that a remarkable comet was
recorded to have appeared in the
year 1857, which was seVenty-ave
years before 1881. He concluded By
sonfideatly predicting that it would
! appear in the year I75s. 1t did so