Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-16
Discovered by Prof. Hall.

Prof. Asaph Hall of the Naval Observa-
tory was the first man on earth to see it
on it's present round CT the sun. IT has
been seen before at intervals of from
seyenty-five to seventy-six years since
before the Christian era, but the honor
Of picking 1t up this time belongs to
Washington and Prof. Hall, though there
were other skilled astronomers all over
the world looking for it at the same time.
1t was on the 9th Of last October that
1t was first picked UP with the biz
twenty-six-inch telescope at the Naval
Observatory. 1t was then about the size
of a star Of the sixth magnitude. When
1t is realized that star Of the sixth
magnitude Is about the smallest star
that can be seen with the naked eye 1t
will be noted that this was something of
pickup OF course, Prof. Hall knew
about where to look for 1t, but then
knowing about where" to look for
pin prick on the top of dining room
table would not help much, and that was
the sort of problem the observer had
to solve
Even at that the camera beat all the hui
man observers to 1t. The comet was Wis
ible photographically some time before It
was visible through a telescope because a
camera can sit down and absorb all the
light there is to absorb through a period
when the human eye would get tired and
refuse to work any longer.
Others See It Later.
The next people to Washington to pick
up the comet were the astronomers with
the big twenty-four glass at the
Yerkes observatory. Then it was seen at
other points. and 1t continued to approach
till in March it disappeared in the blaze
Of the sun.
That is one of the things that make
the comet hard TO see right now. 1t
comes up over the eastern sky little
ahead Of the sun, but il is still SO little
ahead that the sun begins to make the
sky bright very soon after and there is
only a short interval of morning twi-
light when the comet is in sight. 1t first
came out of the influence of the suns
light so that IL could be seen at all April
10, and it will keep getting 4ittle fur
Their ahead with each rising and be visible
till about May 10. 1t will then start back
toward the area Of the sun, and May Is
or 10, when 1t Is due to switch It's tail in
the face of the earth. it will be only thirty
minutes ahead of the sun.
Progress of the Comet.
About May % it will appear in the
western sky and probably will be seen
with the naked eye an hour and a quar-
ter after sunset. BY May "a it will have
dropped three and a quarter hours be-
hind the suns time of setting and will
rapidly disappear from earthly sight to
be picked up no more till about 1885.
That is a temperance about which the
most of the people now living need not
bother.
It is worth a. night watch at the Naval
Observatory to see how the search for the
comet is carried on even if the clouds do
happen to be in the way. The big twenty
six-inch telescope the lens Of which cost
SIS 600 and the mounting of which to-
tailed $25 COO more, has to be trained al
most level with the floor of the observa-
tory. The big. tube is about the size and
almost the shape Of a thlrteen-inch gun.
and while 1t has what would appear to be
an abeurdly small eyepiece for such a
monster mechanism. 1t seems to have as
many stops and as much mechanism
about 1t as church organ.
Method Of Operating It.
Prof. Hall plays 1t almost like an or
gan, too, pulling out stop here and snap
ming a button there I'm the pitch dark by
sense of touch. and setting the motors
and weight wheels flying to bring the
floor to just the right height and the
dome opening In the right place much as
Paderewski would knock out a nocturn
from a piano without looking at It.
The search for the comet has to begin
in the dark. and 1t keeps UP either snc-
cessfully or unsuccessfully till the slif in
the roof begins to turn TURQUOISE hlue
and Tire observation has To be called off
| for the day.