THE COMET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 823, 23 May 1910, Page 8

THE COMET.

TRANSIT ACROSS THE SUN'S DISC. WANCANUI OBSERVATIONS. THE COMING ECLIPSE OP THE MOON. (By TeleeraDh.—Special OorresDondent.l Wanganui,; May 21. ■ Mr. J. T. Ward, Director of the Wanganui . Obsorvatory, reporting on tho transit of Halley's comet across the sun's disc, states that the nucleus was timed to commencc the ■ journey across the sun at 1.20 p.m. on Thursday. That it did so there is no .doubt, but astronomers had not been able to detect anything of tho nucleus. Mr. Ward, in- previous reports, expressed tho opinion that this would be' so, as the comet of 1882 (though live or six times tlio size of Halley's comet, and seen approaching tho sun) was lost in that body's overwhelming brightness. Regarding his observations through the AVanganui telescope—one of the largest and' most powerful in tho Southern Hemisphere—Mr. Ward says that tho sky on Thursday was rather cloudy, but, at the moment of contact, he was ; favoured with, a fair break in tho clouds, and got a very good view of tho sun, which was observed for about a quarter of an hour. There was one rather fine group of spots near the sun's centre, and two small spots near the edge, but no sign of anything in the shape of a dark intervening body was visible. The definition of tho solar imago was very good, and no blur was observed during the transit, which, though not discerned throughout its entirety, was caught at intervals which would have enabled the astronomer to have seen everything had it been there. Nothing at all was noticeable, however. Early risers have now seen the sight of a life-time. The comet made a finer appearance on this occasion than it has made for 600 years. Its subsequent appearance in the heavens daring the" evenings, which will be the most popular time for most people, is certain to cause the greatest interest. The comet is travelling at the rate of about. 3,000,000 miles a day—a speed which tho human mind cannot conoeive—and after swinging round the sun, which is at one end of the comet's elliptical orbit, it may bev- described as "entering the straight." At present its apparent speed across the sky is very rapid, but, as it gets round the bond, it appears to us to travel moro slowly as time goes on, until it disappears from human ken altogether. On Monday evening the comet will set about three' hours after the sun, while at the end of next week it will be risible at midnight, but it will then be very small. . Regarding the effect of the comet on the total eclipse of tho moon on May 24, Mr. Ward issues the following forecast :—The moon • will rise eclipsed, and, provided that the sky is clear, this should afford a good opportunity of viewing tho comet, for a full moon would discount its appearance by about two-thirds. Tho moon will commence to emerge from the earth's shadow at 5.30 p.m., and will take an hour in the operation. - The conditions will, therefore, be better on that evening than at any time till Thursday, when tho later rising of the moon will give an opportunity of viewing the comet on a dark sky: • Then, however, it will be smaller. TWO TAILS. : WHAT AN AUCKLAND OBSERVER ..SAW. SHOOTING; STARS AND METEORS. Auckland, May 22. The scientists of Auckland are still wondering what has become of Halley's Comet, and the, public, who had been expecting developments, are in a sense disappointed that nothing has happened. '

The latest statement of Mr. J. T. Stevenson, F.11.A.5., is not without interest. He says:—Not feeling satisfied that we' had really passed through ,the comet's tail, I arose at half-past three on Friday morning, and again at the samo hour next morning, and on both occasions saw'the comet's tail stretching across the heavens from near the horizon to nearly the' zenith of the eastern sky. The tail, especially on Saturday, was exceedingly' faint; in fact, much fainter than .the Milky Way, and until I had looked for it for a few moments it was invisible. But when the eyes became. accustomed to tho darkness of the sky it was plainly seen. The tail, including the part below-tho horizon, must have been 120 degrees, but somewhat to my astonishment' another broad band of light, or what looked like another and broader tail, stretched upwatds in a wedge shipe from towards the horizon, and between it and the original tail a darker portion of the sky intervened. I can compare it to nothing except a cirrus sky, the two tails representing the appearance of the stripes sometimes visible before storms, and whore tho tails apparently joined would represent the base of the cirrus stripes. I may say that several mornings back 1 suspected an illumination of that the sky where the second very -faint tail now appears; but this at the time I put down to the brilliancy of the planet Venus. However, on Saturday Venus was still invisible when the broaded tail was noticed. In 1883 I observed a similar appearance connected with the great comet which, appeared 'before tho end of 1882. The second tail, however, on that occasion was narrow and preceded the head, and my observations of it were published by tho London 'Times.' "With reference to the question as to whether wo have passed through the tail, I am inclined to think we have passed through a section of it. A number of shooting stars were observed on Saturday about 4 a.m. They all seemed to come from tho part of the sky where'the two tails of the comet were visible. 1 also hear of quito a number of meteors having been seen on Friday night." •. VISIBLE LAST EVENINO. • The head of the comet and a few degrees of its tail were_ faintly visible in the western sky at o p.m. and again.' at 6 p.m. for short periods last evening l before being concealed by clouds. "A PECULIAR YELLOWISH HUE." Our Greytown correspondent writes: The comet caused much interest in Greytown on Thursdav, and through a telescope, with a red lens, the sun was' noticed to change its colour and become a peculiar yellowish hue. Tyhether this was a part of the tail or not will be .told by our astronomers. Tho spots, as mentioned in Tub Dominion, were plainly visible, and were at first taken for the comet, but as they were stationery that illusion was soon forsaken. DR. KENNEDY'S LECTURE. While the earth was understood to phosphorescent tail on Thursday evening, the Dev. Dr. Kennedy repeated his illuminating lecturo on tho brilliant visitant. Tliero was a largo atidionco in the Municipal Concert Hall, and ■Mr. Martin Kennedy presided. Probably, said the lecturer, they were even then inhaling the most poisonous gases, which were present, in a form extremely rarified, in the comet's tail. Ho could not say with cortainty .that tho eartli was enveloped by this fleeting strangor, for ono could never tell how a comet's tail might turn or swerve.

One astronomer said that the tail was only an optical illusion. Ho was freo to believe, so, but the lecturer thought that lie was wrong, for all astronomers who had gono deeply into the _ matter agreed in saying that tho tail of a comet, though of very light material, was substantial. Moreover, if the tail wero but oil optical illusion, it could not ' produce a spectrum. Owing to the cloudy sky that day he had been unablo to take any observations of the comet's transit across the sun's disc, and ho thought that probably tho conditions had precluded anything being done in Wanganui or Christchurch, or elsewhere in New Zealand. Probably in a few days wo should learn if impressions had been taken elsewhere! of tho comct's passing tho sun's disc! From the last approach of tho comet to its present return, the period was shorter than the interval between its visit had ever been before. Since its last perihelion—i.e., the portion nearest the sun, the intervalwas 27,180 days, or less than 75 years. The table of visits exhibited on the screen showed that the longest recorded interval was 28,990 days. Sometimes the tail of a comet- was two million miles in width, yet even then, the faintest stars could bo seen shining ohrough it—"a star you could obscure jy a puff of smoke from a cigarette"— showing tho extreme lightness of its composition. As the comet moved away from the sun, the ooma, or "hair" about 'the nucleus, expanded. By Monday next we should get a good view of tho comet in tho western sky.