Pueblo chieftain., 1921-03-20


OOo, ,OOO, 900. II the entire earth were COW
cred with water to a depth of Si.5 feet
this heat would raise all that water
from freezing to the boiling point. The
chief consolation, if such n catas-
trophe were imminent, would be its
SuddennesS.
But while all this is considered pos
sfble, the weather man adds that the
chances of a comet actually striking
our little globe are one to 2S1 900, 900
Here again, the figure is so large that
we do not get much of an idea Of what
it means. Arago, the astronomer, ex-
plains it like this: The danger of death
to each individual would he exactly
equal to the danger he would incur,
supposing that in an urn containing
Isl 100000 balls there should be only
one white ball. and that he would be
condemned to death should he draw
the white ball.
1t seems certain that none of the
comets whose ways astronomers have
catalogued could endanSer the earth
for thousands of years. Automobiles,
and shot guns, and live wires are n
much more reasonable cause for fear
than the comets.
This One Probably Harmless
We can, therefore, gaze at Win
necke's comet secure in the belief that
it has no intention of jolting the earth
out Of space during the next few
centuries anyway. Winnecke's comet is
a good specimen of the garden variety
of comet. 1t is interesting to us be-
cause it will very probably be visible
to the naked eye sometime in June. 1t
has not yet been picked up by the
astronomers at the Naval Observatory
here, altho they say that it could
probably be seen thru telescope now
II they knew where to look for it..
When the comet has been located the
astronomers will be able to calculate
the date when it will be most clearly
visible and where it will bo found in
the heavens.
Comets are rapidly being robbed of
their romantic possibilities. but COM
paratively little authentic informa-
ton replaces the old mystic ideas. a
few centuries ago serious minded peo-
pie as well as the credulous peasantry
comet. The celebrated surgeon Am
brose Pare looked at the comet of 1923
and came away with tho following
impression:
This comet was so horrible, so
frightful that some died of fear
and others fell sick. 1t appeared to be
of excessive length and was the color
Of blood. At the summit of it was
seen the figure of a bent arm. holding
In its hand great sword. as II about
to strike. On both sides of the rays of
this comet were seen a great number
Of axes. knives. blood-colored swords.
among which were a great number of
hideous human faces. with boards and
bristlinE hair"
Seneca, the Roman philosopher. de-
scribes comets as being of many kinds
some are red, without lustre, others
are white and shine with pure liquid
light: others again present flame
neither pure nor fine, but enveloped in
much smoky fire. Some arc blood rcd
sinister prcsagc of the blood soon to be
shed"
Modern science sees less and more
than these observers. An astronomer
tells us that the majority of the comets
look so much alike that the only sure
way to identify them is by calculating
their orbits. There arc no arrows of
wrath nor crowns of victory in comets
for the modern scientific star gazcr
He studies the hairy star with his tclc-
scopes and cameras and secs It un-
assisted by imagination-trave
perhaps he figures, twenty six miles n
sccond-25, 600 900 miles away from the
earth.
He does not. however know surely
what started the comet whirling on its
course; or whether 1t is hot, or what it
Is made of. Science can assure us what
not to believe about comets but VIC
are still waiting to know what n
comet is.