Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-01-25
A NEW COMET
Visible In the Western Heavens. Not
Halley's.

There was considerable excitement
In our city last Friday evening by the
discovery of comet in the western
sky. When first seen, it was near :
O'Clock and Lat $50 it had set, but the
tail could be seen extending above
the horizon until after o'clock.
Most OF our. people thought it was the
much talked of HALEY comet, but
such was not the case. From all that
can be learned, it was seen few
nights previous to Friday, in South
America, then in Texas and then the
next night it seemed to be visible
throughout our country, at any rate
1T was a brilliant sight in Wausau
from any place along the river bank
or from East hill where there were
no distractions. Saturday night the
new comet was again very brilliant
and beautiful; Sunday evening the
/ sky was cloudy and everybody was
disappointed. We may know more
about this comet in a few days. On
Friday evening 1.-THE same evening on
which the comet was seen here) the
following was sent out by the press
bureau of Lawrence college at Apple
ton:
Appleton, Wis, Jan. ga new
comet visible to the naked eye will be
seen IN the western sky tonight from
all parts of Wisconsin, according to
Prof. j.. G. Lymer, professor of as
tronomy at Lawrence college. Prof.
| Lymer and his class in astronomy at
Lawrence caused profound sensation
here last night in the announcement
that they had discovered, for the first
time in this part of the country, a
mammoth new comet mot Halley's)
in the western heavens. 1t can be
seen tonight between and O'Clock
| from any portion of the state.
| The new comet was first reported
as having been discovered in South
America on Tuesday night. Wednes-
day night, according to press dis
patches, it was seen in Texas, and al
though Prof. Lymer took his class out
early Thursday evening to look for it,
was impossible to see anything on
account of the bright moon.
About $50 O'Clock Friday evening,
however, the comet was discovered
| little to the south of west and almost
| due west of the planet Venus, now the
bright evening star. Prof. Lymer
states that it will be visible to the
naked eye this evening between 5 and
6 O'Clock.
The new comet, which is said to
be complete stranger to scientists, is
without doubt the largest comet which
has visited the solar system In over
tweny years. Prof. Lymer describes
1t as being seen in the sky with head
down and the tail pointing almost
straight toward the zenith. 1t is ap-
parently about eight or ten degrees in
length, or about as long as the dis
tance between the points of the "Big
Dipper'' and its actual size is believed
to be from 8,000,0 900 to 5000, 600 miles
in length.
The discovery last night was made
with the naked eye. Prof. Lymer and
his class viewed the big comet through
the powerful telescope at the Under
wood observatory, but on account of
the bright moon and the light from
the planet Venus, it was much prettier
when seen with the naked eye.
The class will view the comet again
this evening, take measurements, etc.,
and make a study of it. 1t is believed
to have just come around the sun, and
Ii such is the case it must be about an
equal distance from the earth that
the sun is.
HALLEY's COMET.
Much has been said about Halley's
comet and for this reason many had
supposed the new one, with its spec
tacular tail, was Halley's. However,
this historical heavenly body is yet
out beyond the orbit of Mars and in
visible to the naked eye. On the 1st
of Jan. it was 50,000,0O0 miles closer
to the earth than it will be on March
Ath, when it passes behind the sun,
the latter being little over midway
between the earth and the comet.
When the comet emerges from behind
the sun it will come directly towards
the earth and reduce its distance TO
100000 miles. Unless you live
about seventy-fye years longer you
will not be able to see it again after
1910.
1t completes its revolution around
the sun in about seventy-seven years,
though the time varies from seventy
five to seyenty-nine years. 1t was last
seen in 1885. 1t was named after Sir
Edmund HALEY, the second astron-
omer royal of England, who saw it in
1852. HALEY did not compute its
orbit for the reason that the science
of astronomy was not so far advanced
in his day as at present. Knowing of
comets appearing in 1881 and
1907, two dates so nearly seventy
five years apart, he suspected that
that they might be one and the
same as the one then appearing. A
closer examination revealed the fact
that their paths were almost identi-,
cal. He accordingly ventured to pre-
dict that the comet would return in
in 175s, and being impressed with the
conviction that ne would not live TO
see it, he expressed the hope that the
scientific world would bear in mind
that an English astronomer was the
first to predict its return. Halley's
prediction was fully verified, for on
Christmas night, 175S, farmer first
found it, Notwithstanding all the
astrQnomers of Europe were on the
lookout for it. Its next return was
in 1885 and now it is with as again.
The visitations of this comet have
been traced back as far as b. c. 240
Between B. c. 240 and A. ID. lo66 sew
eral gaps exist. due to loss of records
of that unscientific time From the
latter year to the present there has
been an unbroken series of returns.