East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-05-18

From O'Clock this afternoon until
midnight Pendleton people will be
living in the tail Of Halley's comet.
Such is the latest calculations made
by scientists. The same scientists
announce. however that 1t will prob
ably be impossible to tell when the
earth enters the tail or when 1t leaves
II by an unusual phenomena, such as
falling stars or the appearance Of
poisonous gases, for the reason that
none Of these will be present.
The comet is not now visible in the
morning sky and for that reason those
local residents who stayed up all night
or who arose extra early this morn
ing and yesterday morning were DOOM
ed to disappointment. The heavenly
wanderer is now making its journey
across the sky while the sun is shin
ing and for that reason its brightness
Is overshadowed and is invisible 1t
is expected that the next sight OBJ
tanned OF the mysterious space ami
hilator will be on the evening of Fri
day. May 90, soon after dusk, though
the best view will not be obtained un-
til the night Of May 23 when there
will be an eclipse Of the moon.
Comet Crosses Sun.
The comet will cross the sun, three
degrees of arc above the suns CEN
ter from west to east this evening. The
instant of geocentric conjunction is
May IS, 16 hours minutes, sec
onds Greenwich mean time. The
phenomena will not be observable in
any part of the United States. The
comet will not be nearest the earth
at the time of transit but closest ap-
proach will occur a day or two later
The exact instant now is under COM
putation. In a statement given out
last night Director Leuscher of the
astronomical department of the Uni
versity of California said:
According to photographs taken
here May IL the tail of the comet was
two million miles in diameter at the
distance from the nucleus at which
the earth will cross it, but according
to information received from Lick OBJ
servatory the tail is diminishing rap
Idly in absolute width and length. as
Is always the case after a comet has
passed its perihelion. Thus, photo
graphs taken at Lick yesterday give
the estimate that the width of the
tail through which the earth will pass
will have shrunk to 100000 miles.
On the basis of the latter figures, it
will take the earth about six hours to
pass through the tail the relative We
locity of the particles of the tail and
the earth being approximately so
miles second. We may expect to en-
ter the tail at about o'clock in the
afternoon and to come out of 1t at !
about II o'clock in the evening, Pa
cific standard time.>
"The earth will not pass exactly
through the center of the tail, but the
deviation is so slight that it will not |
affect materially the duration Of tran !
sit through the tail. Theoretically the /
tail will stretch over 180 degrees of !
the sky. from horizon to horizon, Just |
before and after transit is seen from !
the earth. 1t probably would be faint !
ly discernable in the southwest sky IL |
the moon were out of the way. The |
phenomena therefore will pass un-
tirely unnoticed by the people on the
American continent and it is doubt !
full whether the observers in the orient
visible, will observe it,
To Catch Dust.
Pasadena Cal, May '1S.-The char
acter of the, solids and fine dust
which Halley's comet Is supposed to I
be carrying with 1t in its sweep
through space is interesting members
of the United States geological sur
vey, who will have representative
at the Carnegie observatory on Mount
Wilson today to trap some Of the par
ticles, as the earth passes through the
comets tail.
A high tower has been erected at
the observatory. with a plate coated
with glycerine surmounting 1t, to catch
any dust that the comets tail may
contain. Mr.. DR.. George Hale. direc-
tor Of the observatory, has little hope
of the success Of the scheme.
DR.. Hale issued a statement today |
In which he said that the earth would