The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-09-03
Undoubtedly Jupiter, the largest Of

the outer planets, catcneS good
many comets, drawing them into Our
system. Attracted by the sun, they
sweep around that luminary, and then
out and away. When, held for while
they move along oval paths so as to
come back again and again with regu
larity.
Thus Halley's comet makes circuit
of the sun every 76 hours. Its lasi
appearance was in 1910, when il
proved disappointment, being mere
remnent Of its former self.
In 1866 Halley's comet had an as
|pect so terrifying that all Europe was
alarmed by the blazing portent in the
sky, it's head being as big as the full
moon. That was the date of the Nor
man invasion of England, and the mar
vel is pictured on the Bayeux tapestry
then woven. Again in 1856, when the
Turks started to overrun Europe, II
hung in the heavens like scimitay
of fire.
Many people now living in our own
country remember the great comet OF
1851, which extended above the hori
zon to within short distance of the
pole star, spanning one-sixth of the
sky. Even more remarkable was
Donatfs comet, three years earlier,
whose tail stretched clear across the
heavenly vault. 1t had smaller sup
Elementary tail projecting from the
head above the main one.
A comet usually consists of bright
nucleus, or head, surrounded by a
luminous envelope, with tail that
streams off into space. In 1911 there
appeared a huge one, with head at
least 100000 miles in diameter and a
tail more than 130,000,OOO miles long.
But some comets have no heads, and
others possess no tails. The comet of
| 1744 had six tails, spread out over the
| sky like vast fan.
What is comet made of? Nobody
knows. At all events, it's structure is
mystery The spectroscope has
proved that comets contain hydrogen,
carbon sodium and iron Their tails
are probably gaseous, but even this Is
uncertain. The head quite possibly is
an aggregation of widely separated
meteors moving as one mass.
The surmise has been ventured that
comets may be detached fragments
of nebulae-those patches of bright
ness in the sky which are imagined to
be fields of meteoric matter, possibly
destined to make suns and planets
some day.
A comets tail is of such tenuous
material that faint stars can be seen
through it. 1t does not necessarily
trail behind the head indeed, it may
be at right angles with the course the
head is pursuing. But always IL
streams directly away from the sun, as
if driven off by some electrical or
other force. 1t has been said that the
tails of half dozen comets could be
packed in dress suit case.
What makes the comet so bright?
The sun mainly, whose light it re-
fleets. But undoubtedly it gives out
a light of its own. 1t has the ap-
pearance of being incandescent. Pro-
fessor Young, of Princeton, has sug-
gested that each particle contributing
to the makeup of a comets head may
carry an envelope of gas-in Other
words, that the celestial wanderer is
actually gas-lit.
The same authority says that the
head Of a comet Of respectable size
probably weighs many millions of
tons. Suppose that one Of these
tramps of the skies were to enter our
system and strike the earth. Such
a thing might happen.
The earth actually passed through
the tail of the comet of 1861, but no.
body noticed. If big one struck us
lhead-on, it would be different. Travel
ing at a speed perhaps of 1000 miles
a minute, it might smash this planet
of ours to smithereens.
Describing such possible incident,
prof. Simon Newcomb, the famous as
tronomer has written: "At the frs
contact of the comet with the upper
regions of the atmosphere the whole
heavens would be Illuminated with a
resplendence beyond that of thous-
and suns, the sky radiating light
which would blind every eye that be-
held it, and heat that would melt
the hardest rocks"
The earth might literally blow up,
the oceans be instantly converted into
clouds of steam, and the continents
dissolve into frey liquids. OF this
world of ours naught might be left but
an incandescent cinder.