The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-03-27
BLAZING COMET MONSTER APPROACHES;
SCIENTISTS SAY, DON'T GET SCAREDv

beings will witness a sight the like
OF which has never before been seen
of men, at least since men have
kept a written history of events
On that day for over threen hours
we shall be viewing the sun through
the great blazing head of a comet.
Of a sudden our earth, swinging
through space at $4,000 miles per
hour, will plunge into the tail of
it. The tail will have been whipped
against us at it's own speed of 1867
600 miles per hour. Thus this globe
will dive through the luminous haze
at total speed of 10000 miles per
hour, AZ miles per second. the earth
entirely immersing herself in the
celestian mist in less than three
minutes, yet SO thick is the tail at
the point of perforation-6OO,OO 900
miles-that we shall be nearly three
hours and half passing through.
What will happen? No two sci
entists agree in detail. They are.
| however, practically certain there
will be no harm done to any crea-
ture of the earth, save the harm
which fear does. But the supersti-
tious are almost certain to be
stricken with mortal terror during
that three hours.
For those three hours will show
to men the most sublime, awe-in-
spring display of heavenly fire
works this earth has witnessed
since space roared with the pri-
mordial flames of creation, the as
tronomers say.
But, the chances are it will be
nothing but light-terrific, but
harmless. For our sunlight dur
ing those 205 minutes will be fill
tered through the comets head or
nucleus (the head will be eclipsing
the SUM and that head will have
Just come from bath in the very
flames of the sun. This gaseous
head, 81 times as big as our earth
and only 100000 miles away {
mere step compared even with the
distance to the SUM, will be boil
ing, Tuning, exploding blasting. in
titanic commissions of heat after its
recent experience.
And it is through such a lens our
sunlight must come. filtered for
three hours and half May 1S.
We did. indeed. have one slight
previous experience with the tail
of comet. On June 80. 1861. We
sniDned through part of the tail of
Tebbet's comet. But it was a mere
wisp of tail-iust thread at the
extreme end of the tails $4,000. 900
miles of length-a hair a scant8OOO
miles thick mao
Yet. for the experience of seeing
that hair severed the French as
tronomer Liais journeyed to- Rio de
Janiero and set up his Instruments
The moment came. Suddenly
Liais saw the sky turn like blood
plunge into lurid, phosphdres-
cent yellow and almost instantly
the sky darkened to a coppery
green. as if a tornado were ap-
preaching. And next instant. be-
fore the observer could realize it,
the sun shone serenely again, the
earth's minute for passing Trough
the 1000 mile thick hair was up.
and Liais packed his instruments
and went home. toIt
Well be in Halley's comets
tail over three hours. VIII the
effect be proportionately awful?
Scientists all over the earth are
warning people to be prepared for
strange sights. and not to be
frightened. For. as the saying
goes. the whole 60 100000 miles
of its tail condensed, might be
packed in trunk"
Says Andre, director of the
Lyons observatory: "You must
not be astonished if it shows an
aspect as strange and stranger
than anything ever seen before"
What effect the adventure will
have upon the earth is disputed
Comets are little understood
There are instruments which can
detect their weight and instru-
ments which partially show their
composition, but beyond those
known facts each scientist has a
different explanation.
A recent theory is that the
comet nucleus or head is simply
an enormous gas lens. and what
appears to be tail is, in reality
only the pencil of concentrated
sunlight such as proceeds from
an ordinary search light. Outside
of this pencil we can see it's
length, but once in it, we would
observe only an increase in the
heat and brilliancy of the sun
light
Under this theory the only eff
feet that will be noticed May IS
will be that the sunshine will
fairly burn one. But in the shade
it should be fairly comfortable.
If the comets tail is of gas.
at least the gas is much diluted
Some observers fear the deadly
cyanogen gas, which, if thick
would stifle all breathing things
at once. Diluted. such gas
might turn the whole world very
sick to it's stomach for two or
three hours.
Some predict a display Of cleo
trical phenomena, tremendous,
but harmless as the aurora bore
ais. Deslandres, Frenchman,
says the tail is made up of cath
ode rays. which. touching our at
mosphere, would become X-rays
of great intensity. The effect of
| X-rayS unOn the air is to wiring the