Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-04-08
HALLEY'S C0MET PER-
PLEXES ASTRONOMERS
What Is Composition OF Tail. Is
Question. flammariOn, The
frenchman. Discusses Il.

etOn OI the nef9iu, from the pen OF AS
tronomer Flammarion, about Halley's
comet will be read with interest:
Juvist Conservatory
March 18th, 1910.
To the Editor of the Herald:-
Our readers have learned of the ghast-
ly experience of that modern Gribouille
who. through fear of Halley's comet.
committed suicide the other day in Hun
gary. preferring. he said, to kill him.
self in advance rather than to be killed
by the wandering star. At the mo-
ment when more than one person is
disquieted by the event of the night of
May 1Sth-19th next. and when the at
tention of the entire world is concen-
trated on the deeds and actions of the
comet, while the astronomers are ac-
lively and vivaciously: discussing the
problem of comets, we think it is inter
esting to review here the suggestions
which w. II. Pickering, of the observ-
atory of Harvard College, has just
made apropos of Halley's comet and its
approaching and meeting with the earth.
The most important question for the
majority of the inhabitants of our plan
ct is to know whether the gigantic tail
will be so extended as to sweep the sur
face of the globe or even to envelop us
entirely in its waves :of vapor. 1t is
difficult to affirm anything up to the
present time, but we can recall that in
almost all its previous appearances this
celebrated comet has spread in space an
elegant tail, sometimes immense but
generally of medium length. Never
theless, on the occasion of its last visit,
in 1895. a remarkable phenomenon oc-
Cured: during its perihelion passage,
which took place on November 10th,
the comet lost its tail, so that when it
reappeared on the other side of the sun
it had the appearance of round nebu-
losity, without an appendage. and it
was only later, when it reached the dis
tance of the planet Mars, that new
tail was formed.
The interplanetary wanderer had been
found on August 9Th, 1885, and it was
on October End that astronomers began
to witness the birth of the first tail.
Prodigious Activity.
The nucleus, which until then had ap-
peared feeble and small, Sir John Her
schel relates, became suddenly much
more brilliant. 1t seemed to be the
seat Of q prodigious activity, sending
out to a great distance currents of light.
This emission, after having stopped for
| time was renewed with still more vi
olence, reaching its maximum intensity
on October 9Th. and continued with in
termissions until the luminous matter,
thrown out in whirlwinds and elected
backward in the direction opposite to
the sun, had formed q nebulous anC
transparent mass. The tail was born
During the period of this formation
the luminous jets varied constantly ir
form and were projected sometime.
from one part of the nucleus, some
times from the other; its phases follow
ed one another with such rapidity tina
from one day to the next it's aspec
showed considerable changes.
This variability of the luminous cur
rents may be explained by a rotar,
movement of the nucleus about its axis
and this will be a phenomenon of par
ticular interest to astronomers of Japal
and Australia, who will observe in ful
daylight, on May 18th next, the pas
sage of the comets nucleus before tn
sun. But it will also be necessary tina
the head of the comet possess certai
consistency to remain visible during tn
time Of its passage before the dazzlinl
disk of the sun.
Now Mr.. Pickering adds that tn
head of comet is composed of swarr
of meteors and a small quantity of ga
extremely rarefied, which can only b
discovered by the spectroscope. Thes
meteors must be very much separate
from one another, for they do not pre-
vent one seeing the background of tn
heavens, even through the central pal
of the nucleus. On the other hand, tn
occultation of star by a comet ha
been observed several times and it ha
Z always been noticed that the latter doe
not diminish or alter in any way til
brightness or the color of the star
front of which it passes. This observs