Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-01-05
COMETS JOY WAVE is FELT.
Tail Of the HALEY Wandcrcr is AL
ready Cutting Up"

Hondon Cable to Washington Post.
The tail of the great HALEY comet,
which, according to NJ. Camille Flam-
marion, the French astronomer, may
make every one die In delirium Of
JOY or In an agony of suffocation as
it brushes past the earth, has already
made its humorous influence felt at
Greenwich Observatory.
A wave Of amusement has just
been recorded by the delicate instru-
ments there, and the astronomer
royal and all his assistants were seen
to be smiling for some abstruse rea-
son as they peered through their
great telescopes.
This may be the first sign Of the
paroxysm of mirth and deiirium in
which M. Flammarion says the hu-
man race may perish on or about
May Is, when the $4,000, ,OOO-mile-
long tail Of Halley's comet envelopes
the earth and snatches away all the
nitrogen from the air, leaving us
only the two exhilarating oxygen to
breathe.
Whatever may happen when it's
tail arrives, the astronomers at
Greenwich are agreed that Halley's
comet, which is making return
visit to the earth after 76 years alb
sence, is the most wonderful Of all
celestial pyrotechnic phenomena.
Wonderful "Skyscapcs."
Already they have taken many
photographs Of it, although it is not
yet in sight Of the naked eye, and
the pictures they hope to take next
April and May will, it Is expected, be
the most wonderful skyscapes ever
obtained.
Londoners should have a fine view
Of the great comet, the best they
have been able to obtain since 1866,
when William the Conqueror and
Harold both thought it was an omen
OF victory. Next year again, as
Tennyson wrote, 1T glares in heaven
and flares upon the Thames," as it
did in Harold's time, and will be cas-
lily visible from Blackfriars bridge.
llalley's comet has still, however,
long way to come. 1t is travelling
on its $4,000, O,000-mile journey I'm
great haste, and has won the long
distance record Of 1SS,5o0,O0O miles
In n days.
Its present pace in the direction of
the earth is roughly estimated
100000 miles day, 1886 miles
minutes, 20 miles a second.
At preset, the world and the
comet are ruShing toward each other.
The earth Is swinging on through
space with the yearly motion of its
orbit and the comet with a constantly
accelerated motion as it approaches
the sun. BY the middle of next May
the comet will be at it's nearest to
the sun, and will then be mere
trifle Of IS, 5000 miles from the
earth. In June it will be only TO-
100000 miles away!
The Chinese astronomers have a
record Of the comets actions for the
last 1000 years, and there are parch-
ments I'm the College Of Mandarins at
Canton OF 2S authenticated appear
ances during that period.
The Comet i'm History.
1t has always played an important
part In history. The famous BayeuX
tapestry shows a curious scene when
"thc hairy, fiery comet" was seen in
1865 by the conquering Normans.
"A group Of warriors, seemingly
convulsed with laughter, are seen
gazing at a strange shape in the sky
supposed to be the comet, but more
nearly resembling a gigantic cockade
from coachman's hat.
Some scientists cheerfully predict
1t Will be the comet and not the
world that will die. Dr.. II. II. Tur.
ner, In addressing the British Asso.
citation, said:
ITS probable end will be by dis.
perslon into swarm of meteors.
Some OF these outlying meteors
our earth may encounter at times
and so be lit up for few moments
by the expiring fragments of wha,
was once terrifying comet"
Astronomers the world over are
preparing for the coming of the
comet. AT the Solar Physics Obser
vatory. South Kensington, the mir.
rors have been resilvered and tn,
telescope room put in readiness.