The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-04-22
COMET KNOCKER
KILLS LAST HOPE
Oakland Scientist Refuses to
Stand for Any Sweeping
by Comets Tail.

For the past sixty days many Of the
people of Honolulu have been wearing
ois their eyes "seeing" the comet.
Lots of them paid first-clsss fare and
return to Kaimuki to look through the
telescope to view the wonder the news
papers and magazines have been ad-
vance-a genting for for the past six
months. More people have become &C.
auainted with Venus and Jupiter and
| the Twins and the two Bears and the
rest of the celestial family during the
past month than ever trod the Milky
Way before. There has hardly been a
sunrise in Honolulu since April FOOLS
dav that some one has not appeared,
blinky-eyed but proud, as the first to
see old Halley's skyscraper with the
naked eye. We have grown more and
more expectant.
At first the comet was expected to
come up Kissing just off Diamond Head,
do stunts in the air and pose for some
moving pictures, with surf riders in the
foreground. Then the scientists threw
cold water on that idea. Next it was
reported by the astronomer of the Bull
letin that the comet would act like a
zenith at irregular intervals, rising
somewhere mauka of the College of
Hawaii and parabolaing into the taro
patches EVA of Schoield Barracks
Other Jealous scientists knocked that
and every other popular conception OF
the phenomenon, until the painful fact
was borne in upon Honolulans that the
mighty comet would look at first like
/ ttrn
One great fact always remained, how
ever, in spite of the knocking. That
was that on May Is we would be
"swspt by the comets tall In spite
of previous disappointments that fact
kept up the interest. The experience
of having one IS hat dragged away by
comet IS tail was expected to be some
thing unique.
Now comes another knocker, who
snatches away the tail and figures out
, by algebra that there will be nothing
doing in the sweeping line. This knock
! er of the greatest show on earth is Prof
Charles Burkhalter, in charge Of the
} Chabot Observatory in Oakland, whit
says:
Crooked Nebu1ar Appendage.
"Many of the country's leading as
tronomers claim that the comet g tai
will undoubtedly sweep across tn
earth's path. am of an entirely diff
ferent opinion, though there is pos
> sible chance of its doing so. However
the natural tendency Of comet 's nebu
, lar appendage, I may say the usual in
clination, is toward curved plane
i, Now if this proves to be the case wit
Halley's wanderer, instead of passin
j, through the luminous train, we vii
pass directly beneath it. This mus
:, needs be entirely a Hypothetical SUI
position as yet, until nearer view ca
be had and more exact calculations
r taken.
"Another theory that has game
n popular eredence is that a meteori
y shower will accompany the transi
Perhaps it is not generally known tina
n if this happens the tail will of a nece'
sity be somewhat over 100000 mile
n in length. Let alone the enormous di'
lance separating the comet at its per
" helion from the earth, add to that til
estimated length of the appendage, an
" it would appear practically impossibl
for us to come in contact with it. VIII
>, an exhibition of stellar pyrotechnics
expected by the scientists Of repute
D quite a mystery to me.
Not Sure About Meteors.
Df "By all the rules and tenets pr
scribed by astronomy, the solid elemeI
of cometary body should exist in an
81 around its nucleus. These particles {
Ell meteors are expelled and thrown fro
the head back along the path just ira
d ersed by the comet. Before the whit
hot particles have travelled third {
D the length of the appendage they al
transformed into atoms so infnitesimi
D that cube 5000 miles in dimension
would scarcely fill common thimb
ID with solid matter. When the stupe
dous length of the tail is taken I'M
ID consideration it is readily seen that
our range of vision nothing whatev
ID of such nature could be discerned.
Now wouldn't that lar youq