Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1906 — Little Danger in Comet Collisions. [ARTICLE]

Little Danger in Comet Collisions.

If you are 45 yeifrs old, you can claim to have passed right through the tail of a comet. As a matter of fact, twice during last century—namely, in 1819 and 1861—did th|s earth of ours whirl through the Halts of comets (one in each of the years named), and so slight Was the damage done that no one realized what had happened until some time afterwards. —t— - AVe L\Tve cdllided with several metedf swarms without serious result. The collision of 1833 was the most remarkable. Xhe whole sky appeared to be raining stars, thousands of meteorites being visible at once, many of them far brighter than Venus, and leaving long, brilliant trails. The earth’s atmosphere protects ns from any real danger from these visitations. Solid bodies rushing at an enormous rate through space are immediately fused and dissipated as gases when they first come in contact with our atmosphere, the friction thus set up resulting in incalculable heat.