Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-12-24
Discovered When 1t Was at
Least 400.000,000 Miles
From Earth.
ASTRONOMERS HAVE NOT
PLOTTED ITS PATH YET
From Now to May Conditions
Will Grow More and More
Favorable for Observation.
SHOULD BE BRILLIANT ONE
AZ Present u * Situated Just North
."f Constellation Libra,
Say Scientists.

Nl.W YORK. December 23.-Cnless
Something unexpected occurs the
world viii Witness noxt spring Il great
heavenly phenomenon mighty comet
hiazinc for'h nirht after night. with
It's, tail swecpire an immense arc
through tho heavens source of
terror to The aurers,i,ious and of in
TENSE intercS, to all.
We may soc again. as we did when
iIallcy's comet returned in 1910. Chi
nose mohs trying to brighten away tho
"ncanny visitor with naming torches
aud savage races falling on their
knees in vibbcring prayer to the sup
posed deity.
We may even have absurd scarcs
among usually well-tala need people,
~ho believe the tail o, tho comet will
sweep the surface OF our Mother
7 Earth with devastating effect. The
icnuous nature Of an comets renders
them source OF minor danger. as
astronomers agree. and We have lit
tie to fear from the vast mass Of neb-
ulous material, even though enveloped
in ii.
Comet l., 1916" is the name OF the
stranger IT is SO called because it
was the second comet discovered this
/ y I'LL ipLESSpi WIN, vi
detected the rushing body'e faint pic
ture ON 4 photographic plate last
April and proceeded to telegraph the
news TO obServatories all over the
"orld with great 10y.
I The statement that the new comet
VIII be monoter rests principally on
the fact that it was discovered when
/ fully ioo,ooo,oo0 miles from the earth.
just within the orbit OF The great
/ planet Jupiter.
INCREASE IN SIZE: AS
THEY APPROACH sun
MI comets increase greatly in size
and brilliancy as they approach the
sun. II such proves 10 be the case
! this time, Comet L, 1915 should
make 4 great impression.
1t is useless TO so out and look for
the comet Tonight, rs II is now on the
other side of the sun. whose greater
: Mhinamce conceals il. Earth. sun and
comet have Just passed conjunction. AS
the state is called when the three
bodies are in line.
| From now on until May. however.
conditions will become increasingly ia
! vorablc for observation In a few
months the comet should lie visible to
the naked eye In parts OF the earth
| suitably situated.
| At present the comet is approa ching
/ the earth at 4 rate OF more than 1,00O,-
900 miles a day--rut not in a direct
! line. In the month OF December its
! distance from the earth viii decreas.
| by nearly 50,000,ooo miles, astronomers
calculate.
! 1t is now situated in the sky Just
north of the constellation Libra and
about l5 degrees northwest Of the up
I per end Of the Scorpion. These con-.
/ ;tellations are near the sun. appearing
! III the carly morning hours Just pre-
/ ccdiuS sunrise.
Ga January the comet Will still be
t more than 30o.0o0.0 900 miles away. It's
I perhclon passage. or nearest approach
/ 10 the sun. is due next June. The path
: OF th> comet has not set been accu-
rotrl% plotted. but dozens OF astrono-
I mer> AZ" working on IL with complex
I tables and extensive ma ,hcmatical call
cusations
I TELESCurES RECORD
LARGE NUMBER OF COMETS
While comets which make nam,
| for themselves arc tcw, the telescope
! records a large nambcr. Some OF them
are old friends paying us another visit
/ These are called periodic comets They
arrive more or less on schedule time.
are In some eases hundreds or thou
sands OF Years in length. Donati's
Great comet OF 1858 takes 1000 years to
return TO the same spot after it's Jour
nny over great elongated ellipse
Astronomers have pot decided
whether all comets return to the sun
or not sons OF them appear to have
p"ihboic orbits and tly off into space
never to see the scla. system again
/ HUt Their supposed paraboiic orbits
may simply be el',ptical orbits OF such
great size that the few observations
I which can he maze - them do not
( disclose their eliiptical character The
arcs Of the eiiipse and the paraboia
are nearly the same For short dis
tunccS.
liu, there. arc great numbers of
. comets known TO he permanent mem
/ bcrs of the solar system They ac-
company the sun and its planets in
I its onward Journey through space.
/ While the orbits OF the planets are
nearly circular. all comets ny alone
+ III greatly -drawn-out cllipscs
! some Planets axe satellites OF the
! larger rlaneta and ny about these
7 cold bodies instead OF around the
/ SAN. IL comet happens to come
! close TO a major planet on it's Journey
toward the sun. 1t may, be ga ptured.r
ana from then on have its orbit per-
r,anently changed TO include the
? planet. Jupiter is known to have quite
large family of captured comets.
I The comet with the shortest known
period Is Encke's. This comet never
gets farther from the sun than In
Continued on Eighth Pags.5 ST