Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-04-27
Iowa Professor Says There is AbsO-
lutely No Danger to Earth
From 1t.
TAIL CANNOT PENETRATE AIR
Some Interesting Facts Concerning
Great Astronomical PhenOme-
non i'm Which Entire World
is Now Deeply
Interested.

the HALEY comet, which is due to
pass between the earth and sun,
within 100000 of us, on May
18th at ten o'clock. There has
been some apprehension that pos
sfbly there might be danger to the
Inhabitants of the earth, and in some
places much anxiety is evidenced on
this account. However, the great
astronomers tell us that there is alb
solutely no danger. Prof. D. w.
Morehouse, of Drake University,
gave an address in Des Moines the
ether night, which contained much
valuable information concerning the
comet. He said that no one on the
earth will be harmed by the tail of
Edward Halley's comet The poison
Gus gases cannot penetrate the dense
atmosphere of the earth nor can any
of the fragments of the comet. 1t
will be directly between the earth
and the sun, and cannot be seen in
day light after the sun rises
The comet is travelling in a reg
ular orbit, which it takes seventy
five years to complete. 1t was dis
covered by Edward HALEY, who first
reported that it would reappear
every seventy-five years.
The comet is SO much larger than
the earth and its tail, which is a
mere breadth of light, gases and
floating particles. is so broad that
while the earth on May Is will pass
squarely through the tail, there will
be result no more noticeable than
If pin prick were made in the
surface of the earth Human i'm
agination is not sufficient to gather
AIRY conception of the size of the
comet
The comet travels 1000 miles per
minute. Like all other planets it
is close to the sun. 1t was seen and
recorded Gal B. c., and has reap
peared at regular periods of seventy
five years since.
Why are the newspapers and
magazines devoting columns of their
valuable space to reports of its visit
and why are the greatest astrono-
mers of the world spending their
valuable time with it?
1t is because it signifies the per-
fection of systems of calculation de-
vised by the human mind and es-
tablishes beyond doubt the fact
that fixed laws govern the solar sys-
TEN. The comet was first seen in
CAL B. c., to our knowledge, and
has reappeared at intervals of sew
enty-five years ever since that time.
It's orbit was first mapped out by
Edward HALEY and it was he that
first predicted it's return in stated
period of time. That is why it is
named for him. He was a mathe-
matician of unusual caliber He is
the man who first calculated life
insurance tables which are in use
TO the present day.
Through calculation he ascertain
ed the speed of the comet in addition
to it's orbit, also it's size. He figured
out how he could locate the comet
in relation to the planets of the
solar system at any time. When you
realize that the body travels at the
rate of more than 1000 miles a min
ue and that it takes it seventy-five
years to circle it's orbit, you can see
what a problem he worked. BY
some 1t is called a wanderer. 1t is
not. for it travels a certain path
with as much exactness as the earth |
travels its orbit.
Conditions are all unfavorable to-
ward obtaining good view of the |
On the day when it is near
est the earth, May IS, it cannot be
seen because 1t Is directly between |
the earth and the sun. Halley's. |
like all the brightest comets. is near
the sun and therefore appears in the
lay time when the sur blots out it's
brightness.
1t can be seen every morning now
with the naked eye II one rises be-
fore the sun and looks about 1O0
north of east. We advise the star
,azers, however. to take their usual
sleep for the next few days for it
IAN best be seen from May 1 to 10.
It will be disappointing enough to
he casual observer then. Now 1t is
, mere speck In, the sky. although
he tail can be distinguished.
On the authority of every astron-