The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-03-11
COMET NOW VISIBLE
MAY BE SEEN IN The WESTERN
SKY AFTER SUNSET.
It Will Be Apparent to the Naked Eye
in Less Than Three Weeks; Will
Be Nearest the Earth on May IS;
Distance Then Will Be l2,5OO.OOO
Miles; the Comet Is Absolutely
Harmless.

Get out your opera glasses on a
clear day at sunfall, find the Great
Square of Pegasus and you will see
Halley's comet, the greatest navigator
of the skies. If you don't know where
the Pegasus is, point your glasses over
the point where the sun went down.
The comet is now in the constella-
ton of Pisces, more commonly called
the constellation of "Fishes," 100000
600 miles from the earth, and accord
ing to astronomers, can be seen with
a pair of ordinary opera glasses, pro-
vided there is no mist i'll the skies.
In three weeks the comet will be Wis
ible to the naked eye
To find the Great Square of Pc,
gGsus is an easy task for even the
most inexperienced of astronomers.
Train your glasses tr;ile above the
reflection of the setting sun, and
there you will find the comet. The
comet appears shortly before seven
O'Clock and remains visible until ten
o'clock
The comet, which last visited the
sun in 1882, is now travelling at the
rate of twenty miles second. When
it reaches its perihelion, the nearest
point to the sun, it will then be 26,-
100000 miles away. When the comet
is farthest away from the sun the
distance is 3,2OOO0OOO0 miles
The comet travels iii the space with
ever increasing speed, and when it
nears the sun it is flying at the rate
of over 200 miles Il minutc.
On May Is it will be the nearest
to the earth. The distance will then
be l2,50O,0O0 miles, and it will then be
between the earth and the sun.
/. Contrary to the general belief of
persons unfamiliar with the study OF
astronomy, the tail, instead of being
composed of heavy substance. is
lighter than the inside of vacuum.
The tail, if it were compressed would
be confined in watch case.
When the comet approaches the sun
the length of time it will be visible
each night will gradually decrease UNI
til it passes around the sun. 1t will
then become the morning star and will
be seen before the sun rises.
The comet was first seen on Aug
l6, 1852, by Edmund HALEY. an Eng
fish astronomer. He predicted that
! the comet. which was later named for
him, would reappear March II, 1863
He died before this time and the comet
reappeared a month later than the
time he had predicted. 1t made its
last appearance in 1885 and when it
disappears this time it will not again
he seen by the inhabitants of the earth
for another seventy-six years.
The comet is absolutely harmless
and predictions that the tail will
strike the earth and asphyXiate all
! life are not based Oh scientific studies
Superstitious persons have blamed
the comets for the floods and other
recent disasters in Europe. Two great
comets were observed in 1874 b. c., and
historians of that time made much OF
the strange heavenly bodies as herald
ing the birth of Mithridates. When the
comets became more common later
they were regarded as omens of dis
aster.
Following the appearance of the great
comet i'll 1861 appalling disasters oc-
Cured i'll all parts OF the world. In
ose case I43 vessels were wrecked in
storm in the waters surrounding the
British Isles. The dykes of Holland
were battered down and thousands OF
acres of lands were flooded. There
were also disastrous earthquakes il
Greece and Italy.