NEW COMET REPORTED BY AIRMEN

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 December 1947, Page 5

NEW COMET REPORTED BY AIRMEN

(N.Z. P. A. —Special—Copyright.) London, Dec. 23. The crew of a R.A.F. Lancaster bomber, flying at 18,000 feet over Huntingdonshire, saw the first glimpse obtained in Britain of a new comet, first reported from South Africa by Dr. D. Johnson, King’s Astronomer. The “Daily Mail ’ says the airmen saw the comet at 5.55 a.m. It rose from behind a low bank of cloud on the horizon. It shone bright orange, with a long tail trailing behind. Owing to a trick ot the atmosphere it flashed green for a moment, then □lazed up again in brilliant orange colour. Even in the brilliant moonlight the comet stood out brightly for five minutes, then slowly disapppeared behind a cloudbank Owing to general cloud the comet was not seen from the ground. A message from Chicago says that astronomers at the University of Chicago report that a new comet, which was sighted on December 14. broke in two on December 18, because it came too close to the sun. The comet was apparently the same one reported from Australia ana South Africa. No news of such a comet as is described has yet been received at the Carter Observatory, Wellington. Mr. I. L. Thomsen, the director, says that it has no relation with the comet which was recently visible here in the evening sky. That object is still following the sun, and is now quite inconspicuous, with very little tail, ana would be scarcely visible even with no moonlight There are curious points about the London report. One is that it is described as visible in bright moonlight at 6 a.m.; but the moon set in England that morning at about 2.30 a.m.