Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1913-03-19
FIVE COMETS
DUE THIS YEAR

Suppose a ball OF iron 100 miles in
diameter. weighing millions and mil
lions Of tons. falling at the rate Of
500 miles a minute. were to strike the
earth. what would happcn2 The ANS
swer TO such an appalling catastrophe
we shall leave TO your Imagination.
That is the weight and mass OF the
ordinary comet, as judged by Uncle
Sans leading astronomers and the
question is suggested because during
the year 1913 many comets are eX-
pccted 10 visit the Vicinity OF this
mundane sphere.
For ages the appearance of a comet
has been the cause of much fear and
intense interest among the inhabi-
tants of Mother Earth And q en- to-
day, after centuries of study of that
celestial phenomona.most people have
superstitious dread of impending
calamity when they hear that certain
comets are about TO approach the
earth, and so il will continue as long
as human nature is constituted as IL
is today
There are five periodic comets due
to return during the year 1913 They
are named after the men who discoy-
cred them Holmes Finlay, Device
h. Swift, Encke's comet, and West
phals comet Holmes comet. The
first expected to appear during the
year, has very interesting history
II is remarkable because the last time
IL was seen, In 1892. IT burst into sud-
den brilliancys that astronomers say
it must have been one OF the great
stars in the heavens suddenly thrown
out OF it's orbit by some powerful un-
known force, and taking fire, took up
It's endless course through space as a
comet
The peculiar phenomena are ex-
planned in this way Many stars have
fixed orbit. the same as the earth.
but sometimes a tremendous upheaval
occurs sufficient to throw the star
from It's orbit IL is then cast into
space, bursts into flame and lmmedi-
ately takes up its endless travels
through the heavens, an immense ball
of fire travelling at such terrific We
locity that il finally burns up and dis
appears altogether That is what
might happen to the earth were dis
turbance to take place In its mmedi-
ate vicinity sufficient to throw il off
its orbit. The earth would imme-
diately become "a comet an travel
through space until in the end IL
burned up or fell into the sun.
The next comet to appear will be
Finlay's This comet was first dis
covered in 1893 and again seen in
1906. At the last. return it passed
periheion--the time when a comet APP
proaches nearest the sun-on Sep
TENDER s. Both Holmes and Finlays'
comets have a period of about seven
years. Next in orcer viii appear the
De Vico-E Swift comet Some time
about the middle of April Encke's
comet viii be visible This comet
also has an interesting history Scien-
lists say its orbit has changed and
that this change was brought bout
by a resisting medium somewhere IN
space that is. there is some attrac-
ton sufficiently great to change its
course, and eventually tie comet will
be drawn closer and closer TO the
sun until IL finally drops into that
body and disappears. The most in
teresting wanderer OF the heavens to
appear during this year. however will
be WestpEa's comet. last seen about
go years ago, in 1852 Astronomers
all over the world will be on the look
out for tLis great comet