The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-05-20

really departing.
the sun so that it will not be vaporized
by the sun g heat, and there is a chance
that various parts of the nucleus are
large enough to cast shadows on the
sun Is disk. The transit will take about
an hour, and the comet will be in the
center of the sun at Is minutes past
FIVE this afternoon, according to a cable
Just received from Doctor Hall, which
is the result of the last observations
and calculations, probably at Harvard
observatory.
"'The exact time of the earth's be.
ing within the tail can not be stated
with certainty, as it is impossible to
say whether the tail is curved or not.
If the tail is a straight line, of course,
the earth will enter it some time be-
fore the comet IS nucleus begins to
cross the sun, as seen from here, the
tail being much wider than the nucleus,
and the earth will naturally be in the
tail for some time after the transit of
the nucleus is over. The time of earth IS
entering the tail may be any time be-
tween tonight, Tuesday, and Thursday
morning.
81 doubt whether there will be any
visible effect of earth IS passing through
the comet IS tail. On clear dark night
it would probably cause some illumina-
ton"
Professors Lord and Coddington are
at Haleiwa, where they will use the
spectrograph, hoping to get some photo
graphs which will indicate the compost
g
by Professor Ellerman was transmitted
to them yesterday.
The question of what comets are
composed of has been long a subject of
speculation and controversy among
astronomers. The opportunity of today
is the best that has ever occurred for
settling it. A writer in Collier's says:
A year ago l made the announce
ment that comets "tails" were sun
light, focused and transmitted through
space by the heads of comets acting
as huge, spherical lenses. In other
wclds, the "tail'' of a comet is prac.
tically the same as the beam of a
searchlight. This has since been proven
by observation at many observatories
When Halley's comet passes between
the earth and sun ON May 1920, the
earth will merely be bathed in an extra
food of light. If the passage occurs
in the day and the sky be clear, we
shall have a hot, brilliant day. II
at night, it will be bright, as if the
moon, at that time just past first quar-
ter, were at its fullest and brightest
and shining on freshly fallen snow.
We are not afraid of brilliant moon
light. The moon is only 100000 miles
away while Halley s comet at its near,
est will be sixty times as far from
the earth. There is this difference
though. The moon s light is reflected
sunlight, the comet s light is condensed
and transmitted sunlight. The earth
win be out of focus of this light this
time. 1t would take a comet over O
million miles in diameter, passing be
tween the earth and sun much nearer
than any comet ever has, to affect
the earth by focused light.
This can be understood by putting
some burnable object in sunlight and
placing a magnifying glass between il
and the sun. If the sunlight is moi
focused on the object the glass merely
lights it up. The chance Of any comet
passing the earth so its rays viii bt
focused on the earth is about one il
billion. Therefore we need not wor
ry. Venus viii practically anticipate
our experience by eighteen days, so VIZ
will have ample time to quiet ou
fears before the comet reaches us.
Much has been written about thu
evil effects of comets ON the earth
Much of it is entoosalusm. - Th,
presence of an abnormal body, moving
at high speed through the solar sys
TEN, is bound to result in some slight
disturbance, but the earth successfully
resists each second of its existenc,
greater strains than any comet coulC
possibly cause. The earth is protected
by wonderfully resilient and elasti,
atmosphere weighing 20,000,000 000,0 ,00t
of tons. This titanic shock absorbe
has withstood the centrifugal pressure
of the solid earth for untold ages, ant
the centrifugal pressure of the eartl
can only be expressed in myriad mul
tiples OF millions The passage of th
comet will cause local disturbances
But there is vast difference between
an eruption like krakatoH, in come
year, or an earthquake like those O
san Francisco or Mesaina aud a uni
yersai deluge OF water or fire or ex
uneiion by cyauogen gas There ha
been, aud will be-, unreasonable weather
Rurorhl Displays magnetic disturbances
and other phenomena, hnt these an
not 10 be feared as involving destrua
ton OF the human race or ~ planet
There iH grave doubt in tho mind
o. some astronomers that ihis comet Z
an OF Halley's comet The comet o
May, lyop, pprsaed the same pa,h an,
lAaael AnLY elnaa ln III aAIlh. it'll