COMETS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2208, 15 August 1910, Page 7

COMETS.

HOW THEY COMB : WHERE THEY GO. All space is thickly populated with countless hosts of stare. Our solar system Is but one of an infinite number of systems of stars, grouped like i so many glittering chandeliers in a mighty darkened hall. To human ’ eyes this darkened hall is for ever i wrapped in peace and silence. NothI ing ever seems to disturb the eternal | rest of the stars. Yet violent accidents are constantly taking place, for. packed In between every one of . these shining stars are swarms of I meteors. j Watch one of these meteor swarms , careering between the glittering stars towards the sun. Presently, right across their track from some ! other solar system, comes rushing 1 another swarm of meteors. Like two dense clouds of bullets they ! crash into each other. A prolonged collision ensues, and the friction and 1 pressure from that collision are so intense that the colliding bodies are ! converted into gaseous, white-hot bulk of shapeless matter. This flaming bulk is a “newly-born comet.” At first the infant prodigy is very hot ; vapours rise and cover the nucleus, forming a coma, and streams of molten iron are flung into its track, forming the tail. In this state it flies on an apparently designless | journey between the swarms of surrounding stars. Now, all small bodies rushing through space between larger ones ; are like so many needles flying be- | tween thousands of powerful magj nets. If one of the magnets happens jto be much nearer or much more powerful than the others, then that j magnet is most likely to draw the needle towards it. This is the case with the comet. Every surrounding star attracts it by the law of gravitation ; and the nearest, or most powerful, star will deflect the course of the comet. Our sun being very large and powerful, drags comets towards it for this reason. So that after drifting about for ages In space over many hundreds of billions of miles, during which it probably becomes quite cool, the comet finally comes tearing straight towards ©ur sun. Why is it not doomed ? Few people could guess. It so happens that a violent gale of light is for ever pouring out of the sun at every square foot, equal id strength to the drawing power of 12,000 horses. This tremendous gale, which is more powerful in space than the strongest gale of wind on earth, blows right in the face of the advancing comet. Under its scathing, scorching blast tbe comet grows hotter and hotter. The nucleus boils and churns, throwing up vast volumes of gas into the coma, and millions of sparks Into the tail, Something more than this - happened to the little comet, known as Morehouse’s, which appeared during the autumn of 1908. As it approached the sun it was the scene of terrific explosions of a sudden and quite unexpected nature ; and vast lumps like molten hills were thrown backwards into the tail, accompanied by volleys of meteoric dust and stones. Then the tail broke away, and a new one began to develop, while the comet itself writhed and twisted like a chrysalis. The reason for this amazing spectacle lay in the fact that the comet encountered a mass of meteors that happened to be flying acress its path. And now what happens next ? Of course the comet cannot keep in a straight line with such a formid- I able gale in its face. It is therefore j gradually blown aside, and forced to take a curve. j | The huge tugging power of the sun , itself prevents the vast creature from ! simply flying by into space beyond ; . so that the curve and the speed of | the comet, plus the tug and light | repulsion of the sun, has the extra- | ordinary effect of swinging the comet j right round the sun to the side it I approached in the first instance. And now the comet is in position to return in the direction from whence it came. As it goes home the way it came, of course it has the gale of light at its back. This has the curious effect of blowing the tail right over its head like a flag or stream of smoke. And in this manner, with its tail now turned into a sort of . locomotive searchlight, it rushes away into space, perhaps for ever—unless some other sun happens to lie in Its path billions of miles off among the stars. —E. C. Andrews, .in “Pearson’s Magazine.”

Doctor : "You have no reason to believe, madam, that your husband shot himself intentionally ?” Madam : "Oh, dear, no ! It was purely accidental. But is he seriously hurt ?” Doctor : "Quite seriously ; but I think we can save him.” Madam : "What are you going to do now with all those horrid-surgical instruments ?” Doctor : "We are going to probe for the bullet.” Madam: "Yes? Well, doctor, while you are about it, will you be good enough to see if you can’t find a gold collar-stud I lent him last week and that he carelessly swallowed ?”

The oftener Cupid hits the mark, the more Mrs. he makes.

The social graces are admirable, but very few people have waltzed into fame.

Little Mary was playing with her pet kitten. The kitten scratched her and she exclaimed, "You is a darned old kitty I” Her mother told her she must never utter such a naughty word again. The next day Mary was again playing with the kitten, and again trouble arose, when she was heard to remark, "You is just the same kind of a kitten you was yesterday 1” 1713.