THROUGH THE COMET'S TAIL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13739, 21 May 1910, Page 9

THROUGH THE COMET'S TAIL.

AN UNEVENTFUL JOURNEY,

The earth, according to the calculations pf scientists, bored its way through the tail of Halley's comet during the evening hours of Thursday apd the early morning hours of Friday. A great many speculations and theories were put to the proof, and perhaps the hpuso oi science has beep pnrichpd with valuable astronomical observations. As far as New Zealand is concerned, the people would not hove known, except for the calculations, that the world had accomplished its unique journey. Thero was no glowing illumination of the or any dazzling shower of meteors. The sky did not do any honour to this phenomenon, one of the most wonderful of Nature's side-shows. The night was as hundreds of nights have been-r-*a mixture of starry blue sky, fleecy clouds, attenuated haze, and a smiling moon. If tho comet's tail was about, it retired into shamed obscpnty before the radiance''of"the Qupen of the Night. The tail gave the earth a swish, but it was such an apologetic and innocuous brush that the earth wa§ not sure when it happenecj. Tho absence of any display whatever causes almost a feeling of di-sappointr ment, especially when the popular mind had conjured ill- so many fanciful apd disastrous possibilities. Thero is small consolation'in'-the fact that the Christchurch Observatory recorded a slight niagnefic storm, which may have been, but niost probably was not, connected with the earth's proximity to the comet's tail. Mr H. F. Skey. who is in charge of tbo Observatory, developed the records taken by the instruments overnight, apd gives the following statement in regard to them:—'• A slight magnetic storm began about 3.30 p.m. on Thursday. At about "5-30 p.m. it commenced to increase, and both the horizontal force and the magnetic declination experienced disturbances of a larger nature between 9.30 and 11.30 p.m. Alter that the hprizoptal force wiis much less disturbed, but therowas a slight increase from 3.80 to 4 a.m. yesterday. Immediately after that, however, the force resumed its normal value, and the- -curve was. undisturbed.' The range of the disturbance "of'the horizontal force was about .0009 of a c.g.s. unit. The-range of in declination was about twefye minutes of arc. ,! The storm, Mr Skey continued, was really a very slight cue, and was not at all the sort; that is associated .yltj"j a big auroral display- It waf. extremely dcmbtful whether tbo effept'wfis due to tbo earth'§ passage through the comet's tail; it Vas probably jqst an ore. affair due to solar disturbances. There wa.. no reqorcl to show that aqytjiing r,i'usual had occurred. The magnetic Stopm of Sentemher 25th last w«£ an immensely larggr oqp, ,ss was also, thqt of May 1-lth and loth of last year.