Evening star., 1914-11-23

!
! ing which has been aScribed to re-
| sisting medium perhaps in the vicinity
of the sun.
<
Delevans comet. discovered December
| II, 1913, has been observable for nearly
| all the year and
0eleVan 8 Comet will be visible
Soon to Disappear. longer so that
there has not been a month of 1914 in
| which some comet could not have been
discerned in the heavens. The Dele
| van comet was visible to the naked eye
throughout the summer and was an in
| teresting feature of the northeastern
sky in the early mornings. 1t has two
| branches or tails. the south tail being
broad and diffused, while the one to-
| ward the north is SO striking in it's ap-
| pearance as to call forth much specu-
| lation upon the part of astronomers
Prof Barnard of the Yerkes Observa-
! tory believes them to be of totally diff
| ferent chemical composition. Prof. w.
NJ. Cassel of Wytheville,, Md. claims to
| have discovered a small star plainly
visible through the tails.
| No celestial body is more interesting
| to the observer than the comet, the
purpose and plan of which are yet
!
| called it an imperfectly formed star
| and others a star which has been per-
| feet and fulfilled a certain mission and
is now decomposing. Either OF these
! suppositionS may be aided by the fact
| that the periodic comets are generally
followed by meteoric showers upon
some part of the earth. Astronomers
| believe that these showers are really
| atomic fragments of the comet which
| become separated from the body as it
is whirling through space.
| 1t is known that the comet contains
little real matter of any kind. The
| nucleus which con-
Formed Chiefly tains most of the
matter is made of
VI 4Ao6AASnss' more or less closely
connected fragments. The tail of the
| comet as we see it is composed chiefly
| of gases given off from these frag-
| ments. At one time it was believed by
many people that the collision Of the
| earth with the tail of comet would
mark the end of terrestrial time. But
the earth actually passed through the
| tail of large comet in 1861 and com
| paratively little effect was noticeable.
| The transparency of comets tails is
marvellous. Stars which the slightest
fog would conceal are seen to shine
clearly through the tail of Il comet.
which has millions of miles of thick
| ness. The light of comets is believed
| to be due partially to electric dis
| charges and partly to solar reflections.
| The size of comets and the speed with
| which they move require figures of al
| most incomprehensible dimensions.
Even their closest point of contact with
| the earth is usually at distance of
millions of miles and they travel at the
| rate of hundreds of miles second, so
| computations of their courses require
F! figures of as high values as are known
| to mathematical calculations.
! Two eclipses have added to the i'm
portance of the current year in the astro-
uomical history of the world. The eclipse
| of August II, passing over certain sec
| tions of Europe, was of such Importance
that a number of American astronomers
went to Russia to take observations The
| expedition was rather un ortunate. In
| most places the eclipse was 50 obScured
| by fog that satisfactory observa tions
| were impossible. Consequently. the ad
ditional knowledge regarding the nature
of the sun and of the corona hoped for
as a result Of the observations of this
| eclipse. was not secured. In addition to
| this. the hostilities in Europe interfered
| with some of the astronomers reach ng
the points from which they had planned
to make observations and prevented their
return to this country. a number OF
American astronomers, including Prof.
Campbell of the Lick observatory of CAL
ifornia, were not heard of fer a number
of weeks and have only recently returned
| To this country.
*
| The eclipse of the moon last March was
an event OF more popular interest, as it
| was visible in all
Special Interest parts of the United
| =: Mo-. r.I; States and was OBJ
| ~> served with inter
est by all classes of people While of no
especial value to the astronomer, this
eclipse was of remarkable beauty and
was probably observed by a greater num-
Der Of people throughout the country than
any other lunar eclipse on record.
For number of years the observations
of Prof. Lowell regarding the planet Mars