Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1880 — Comets. [ARTICLE]

Comets.

are called “short period" comets an: Encke’a, whose time of revolution k 64 years; De Vico’s, 6J ;Winnecke’a 64; Brorson’s 64; BtdaV, 64; D*Arrest’s, 6*; Faye's, 74; Mechatnt, 13A; Halley’s 78|. The long-period comets sre those ofl6Bo, whose time of revolution is 8,814 jeers; that of 1744,122,663 jeers; of 1870, 75,314 jeers; of 1311. 3,000 jeers;oflß4o,l3,864 years; of 1844.109,060 jeers; of 1847, years; of 1858,1t/WO years; oflßoo, 15,864 years. Btelas’ comet divided into two parts in 1848, and in 1863 those parts ware 1,260,000/JOO miles apart, and bed entirely disappeared by 1886. Coggis's comet wss discovered in 1874. It is non-periodical and was miles from the sun when discovered. In July of that year it was within miles of both earth and son, and its tail was computed to be 12,000,000 miles in length. Donati’s comet, discovered in 1858, had a tail 40,000,000 miles long, and its main body very nearly collided with Venus. Although supposed to be vaporous, this comet was calculated by M. Faye to have the weight of a sea 327 feet deep and 40,000 square miles w extent. Halley’s comet has been identified as identical with ths comets of 1681, 1607, 1006 and 1223. Its reappearance is prognosticated for 1912. >, Gncke’s comet possesses no tail, usually. In 1848, however, it presented two tails, one toward and one from the sun. Lexell’s, or “the lost oomet,” was caught or entangled among the satellites of Jupiter in 1770, reappeared in 1779, again became entangled, and has not been seen since. The superstitious of all times and nations have regarded the appearance of comets with dread, as being omens of disaster. The spectroscope fails to show their chemical composition. It yras shown by Schiapavilli, in 1872, that comets are sometimes connected with meteoric showers, and his discovery has been indorsed by noted astronomers. Lycho Brahe discovered that comets are extraneous to our atmosphere, and Newton that they are subjected to the same principle which guides the planets.