Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-05-17

.
For thus "far-nowing light by Times
! mysterious shadow overcast" seems
| doomed az last 90 fade. as did the lost
! pleiad, into a nameless night"
Astronomers are delighted with the
| prospect that our earth win blaze IT,
| pathway through tine tail OF Halley's
| comet: the only noticeable effect will be
% shower OF metcors; and should it
ever happen that the earth encoun-
/ tered the head Of an ordinary comet
the meteoric masses composing the
latter would be disippated into vapor
as soon as they encountered the carth's
atmosphere
1t Will be about "a week before good
views Of the comet will be had again
The visitor IS now dimmed by reason
OF its nearnoss 90 the sun, and IL will
pass directly IN front of our great orb
Of day ON the 18th Emerging from
the face Of the sun. the comet, a few
days later. should present fine APP
pearance in the western skies shortly
after sunset.
After this emergence the comet will
have crossed from the right 10 the left
hand side OF the sun. and hence Will
be seen In the evening sky after the
sun has set instead OF In the morning
before sunrise. as has hitherto been
the case. a curious thing. also. will
have happened to the tail; II will point
I'm tho opposite direction from its pres
ent location with respect TO the sun.
It will be recalled that comets tails,
except In a few rare instances, have
always pointed. away from the sun.
The material carried up In Jets and
envelopes from the heads Of comets
seems 70 be repealed by the sun and
driven away from II. Notwithstanding
the enormous pull which the suns
gravitational force must exert upon
its particles The repulsion. II IS
thought. may he due TO electrical ac-
ton and to radiation pressure; for IT
has been found that solar radiation
exerts a small pressure upon any
bodies II strikes. and the aid of this
force has been similarly invoked by
astronomers TO explain the presence
OF the finely divided matter held aloft
in the corona, or outer envelope Of
the SUMS own atmosphere. Many ex-
periments described IN works on ply
sizes show that electrical actions and
repulslons. acting upon light bodies
which have a large surface In compari-
son with their mass. frequently over
come the force Of gravity. on the other
hand. a body with a small surface in
proportion 10 its weight, obeys the
force ~ gravity and falls into or
around the attracting body, For this
reason the llghtest portions Of the
comets head might be driven away by
an electrical repulsion originating in
the sun; and there is some evidence
that the nucleus Of the comet, as well
as the sun. repels the finely divided
matter Photographs OF Rordame's
comet made at the Lick observatory
In 1898. showed that certain condensa-
tons Of the tail were receding from
the head al the rate Of nifty miles a
second.
The tail Of n comet Is, at least in
part. generated by the suns rays, and
is continually changing. never being
the same tail today that it was yester-
day. When. therefore. Halley's comet
will dash across the face Of the sun
next Wednesday. the enormous tail
in all It's millions Of miles In length.
win appear TO swing around, like 81
gantic scimitar brondished athwart
| the sky Bus since no known force
/ could swing the comets tail with such
| inconceivable velocity as this would
imply. il must be that the tail, like a
/ cloud Of smoke from a FIRE, Is driven
off anew boy the action Of the SUMS
RAYS to form another tail And the tail
/ OF the comet. like the smoke from a
/ fire. does not return TO its source, but
driven OF IN especial profusion al the
| time Of its perlhllion passage. is lost
| to the comet, vanishing into the
depths OF space.
! Since az each perihelion the comet
| loses portion OF IFS mass, the
weight and brightness Of this wander
ing visitor will be reduced at each
successive return "to be finally re-
duced. az sir Isaac Newton explained.
and scattered through the celestial
/ spaces.
! According 10 bulletins from tho Car
negie telescope on Mount Wilson, the
analysis OF the light of Halley's comet
made by Mr.. Adams and Mr.. Babcock
with the spectroscope attached 20 the
60-inch reflector. shows that il Is COM
posed very largely Of cyanogen gas
and other gases which are combina-
| lions Of carbon with nitrogen. hydrogen
| or oxygen There Is evidence. how
/ ever. In the spectrum that a consider
able amount Of the light OF the comet
! IS due also TO sunlight reflected by
! nue solid particles present in the comet.
The combination Of these two sources
| of light results IN most interesting
| spectrum. consisting OF both bright
and dark lines
The spectrum is very strong in the
/ green and yellow regions; I'm the latter
region. two lines which are character
istlc Of sodium are Intensely bright
showing the presence OF sodium gas.
! probably IN large quantities The
intensity Of these lines is so great as