The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-04-07
WHERE AND WHEN TO SEE THE
COMET
Some Facts About the Great Comet
Now Visible in Morning Sky

Halley's comet is now "On view" in
the eastern sky before sunrise. 1t
Is rising earlier and earlier every
morning 1t is still at a great dis
lance; SO far that we cannot compre
bend the space between the world and
the famous celestial visitor, for IL Is
l2a,e2N 0na miles away, or will be just
that many miles distant, so far as
astronomers can determine, tomorrow
April fourth the comet will rise at
quarter-to-five and will be travelling
about 100000 miles an hour.
May first 1t will be only 100000
miles distant, and will rise about
alfaftertwo. On May II it will be
only 100000 miles away, rising at
1872 a. m. When it visited us in 1885
it came within half that distance, but
this time will come no closer, as it
soon turns back and is seen in the
evening sky. On the 18th of May the
earth and the comet will pass each
other. The comet will come in con-
junction with the sun on the neLler
side and in descending node, result
ing in a transit of the comet aciGss
the suns face, occurring between l.31
and 1.45 a. NJ, eastern time, hence in
visible in this country, but between
6.31 and 6.45 a. M, Greenwich time,
hence visible in Europe, Asia and Az
RIGA. Next the earth and moon will
pass through the comets tail; an oc-
curence that will be altogether I'M
eventful, lasting perhaps fifteen min
utes or SO.
May 10 the comet will be in the
evening sky again. May 20 it will
set at 8.11 D. m. and will be enormous
in size at that time. Setting later
and later each evening until May 80
1t disappears below the western hori-
zon as late as 1929, it also rapidly
retreats and fades out of sight. The
comet will come again about 1858.
Some interesting facts about the
comet appear in the April number of
the Century in an article by VIM. H.
Pickering.
The comets whose periods are less
than one hundred years are called
periodic comets, and nearly half of
them have been observed more than
once. At present they number forty
Ave, but only three of them are retro
grade; that Is, revolve in their orbits
in the opposite direction to the plan
cts. Halley's comet Is one of these
three, and as result 1t will pass us
with very rapid motion. At that
time the earth will be moving in its
orbit at speed eighteen miles a sec
ond, and the comet In nearly the OPP
posite direction at a speed of twenty
Ave miles. The relative motion is
therefore about eighty times that of a
cannon ball.
The tail of a comet is composed of
gas existing In highly rarefied
condition. Little particles of electric
ity called corpuscles, or ions, are he
ing constantly given off at enormous
the comets head is surrounded by its
own rarefied atmosphere. When one
OF these little ions strikes one of the
molecules of gas In the comets at
mosphere, II carries 1t off with 1t to
form the tail. The electrical charge
makes the gas luminous, and 1t Is by
this light, and not by reflected sun
light that the tail Ia made visible
to us. A comets tail, therefore, seems
to be merely a very extended aurora.
While Halley's comet has been
identified as a member of our system
for over 1000 years. certain charac-
teristics of its orbit lead US to believe
that It has been with us at least ten
or perhaps one hundred times as long
as that. According to all accounts,