The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1882.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6698, 5 October 1882, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 188 2.

The .present year ’ will certainly be noted,for its comets, the one now attracting so much attention being, if we mistake not, the sixth or seventh of remarkable , size that has been reported since January last. Such apparitions invariably excite intense interest; for, while" they give rise to groundless forebodings among ignorant and superstitious persons, to the educated and ; well-informed they afford opportunities of studying the conditions of matter in that gaseous phase through which the earth and all the planets are supposed to have passed in their infancy. * The present comet must be classed with the most remarkable of this century, such as those of 1811, 1843; 1858, and 1861. It suddenly appeared as a remarkable object in' the Constellation of Hydra on. the 17th of last month, and, with an apparent N.E. motion, neared the sun, till, on the 18ifch, it revolved round the great central motor of our system, and has since been retracing its course by almost the same apparent path towards the same quarter of the heavens from which it emerged. Beaching the sun on the further side from the 1 earth; it has been nearest to us on its return course, and has thus been seen to greater advantage. t . When first observed it was probably not less than 160,000,000 miles distant. It then appears to have approached within two degrees of the sun’s disc, which is equal to three and a half million miles from the sun’s surface. In this part of its course its angular velocity must have been enormous, as in a very few hours it passed through, nearly threefourths of its entire revolution; apd, on again becoming visible on the west side of the sun, was moving at a speed exceeding 30,000 miles per hour, | or over seven millions in a day. There can be no doubt oi its .identity with the comet telegraphed as being seen from the Paris Observatory on the 26th, as from its position since the 25th ultimo it must have risen about half an hour'before dawn in that latitude. The extraordinary thing is that it seems to have escaped observation on the 20th and 21st, on which days, except where obscured by clouds, it must have been equally within view in all parts of the world as it waq in New Zealand, shining as ' a .bright winged dagger of light, even.at noontide, within less than , five degrees due west of the sun, on the very date when the s,un is vertical over the Equator, and therefore shines from Pole to Pole. This brilliancy is not unprecedented, however, as in

1847 , a muck smaller comet -was ■visible at noon on SOth March of that year, but it was at a greater distance from .the sun, and hearer to the earth.

With its enormous velocity the present comet must by this time have traversed a distance from the sun ag great as the earth’s orbit; but it would not only cross this orbit at a point that will not he reached by the earth in its progress round the sun till about a month afterwards, but, moreover, will not intersect the earth’s path at all, as the comet moves iu an entirely different plane, having since the 20th ult., made over 7deg of southing, and being already 4jdeg beyond the Ecliptic. The possibility of a collision of the earth with any part of the comet is, therefore, entirely out of the question. Indeed, the comet will probably not be nearer to us than it was on the 2nd or 3rd instant, when its distance could not have been less than sixtyfive million of miles. The best view of it was that obtained on Monday last, 2nd inst. On that morning the head of the comet was west and 7deg south of the sun, and thus appeared in the eastern sky about one and a-half hours before sunrise. The tail being lOdeg in length, and directed in advance of the comet, began to rise forty minutes earlier. All the various parts were displayed on that morning to greal perfection at 4 a.m., owing to the optical purity and stillness of the atmosphere. The nucleus seemed larger but leas defined than formerly, its outline being diffused. The tail, which must have been over ten million miles in length, and half a million in width, was. very bright, especially on the southern side, and from its extremity faint streams, resembling the scintillations of an aurora, seemed at times to add considerably to the length of the tail. The head and sides of the comet were also enveloped in a faint nebulous light like a delicate filamentous haze.

After the present week this great comet may be expected to decrease rapidly in brilliancy as it proceeds on its journey back into outer space; and hence those who have not yet seen it should at once improve the opportunity of witnessing one of the most remarkable of this species of phenomena. We may quite safely wish it good speed ; for, whether it be one of the long-term comets, having a returning period of 300,000 years, or one of the short-termed comets among the thousands that have been recorded, the chances of its ever being nearer to earthly creatures than a distant and transient object of wonder and speculation is extremely infinitesimal.