Show EARTH TO BE DRIVEN IN MAD RUSH THROUGH COMETS ITS TAIL Bj By II Frederic Campbell Sc St D II President Department of Astronomy Institute WEARE E ARE just now being treated to a prediction such as no scientist ever offered to his fellowmen before It is that the entire globe on which we dwell is to be shot through the tail of comet with a speed times that of a cannon ball Does D J te earth arth then fly through gg P at such s cb r as t ty this z ae aeBy S By y no means m ans Mf lJ earth is rapidly approaching aching the comet the comet is yet more rapidly approaching the earth and thid the combined combine speed of the two is the same as if the comet stood still and the earth entered its tail at the rate of miles a second If Ie we struck the solid soUd nucleus of the comet at the center of its foaming vapory vapo head such speed would be fatal to the comet and doubtless would do great damage to the earth But of is pot the slightest danger d nger inasmuch in as the paths of the two bodies do not run nearer than six million miles and their positions are never such as to bring them toem hem nearer than twelve miles fifty times the distance of the the moon But with the tail we can and shall collide TaU Tall Streams uns Away wa Froni From Sun Situ It is a very common common error that a comets tail follows its head stream streamIng streamIng streaming Ing behind as does the smoke oke of ot a lo ho locomotive locomotive It does this only in ap approaching apprOaching pr aching the sun but in retiring from the sun the tail tan leads the way The direction of ot the tail is always de determined determined by an influence supposed to tobe tobe tobe be that of light emanating from the sun which drives It almost straight back from that body The result in inthe inthe Inthe the present instance will be that the tail tall will come sweeping dewise and we shan shall enter it and leave It on O two opposite sides Of course this depends however on the tail tall being at least leat fourteen mU mil million lion miles long And although this Is written only about two weeks before the event it has not yet et been fully de determined determined determined what the tails length will willbe willbe willbe be But no one doubts that ft t will willbe willbe willbe be several times as long as that pos possibly possibly sibly even miles in length Its breadth moreover at the point where we shall encounter it will probably be a billion miles Hence it follows that great as Is the speed of our progress we shall shan immersed be in inthe inthe inthe the comets cornets tail for some hours Composed of Thin Vapors As we are arc absolutely helpless in such a situation it is of the utmost in interest interest interest terest to know what a comets tail tall Is and what it is likely to do to us when like the sea it us on all sides At the outset it is assuring to be told that it is not solid soUd It is not for in instance tance stance a stream of meteors If it were we might expect a gigantic me meteoric meteoric meteoric shower like the famous one of 1833 when men thought that the stars of the heavens were actually falling and the universe had come to ruin Comets heads are supposed so far as their nuclei are concerned to tobe tobe tobe be made up of masses maSes of meteors held together by mutual attraction and these not infrequently are disrupted and streams of meteors become their successors following the ancient or Continued on Page l Two TITO 0 EARTH TO BE DRIVEN IN MAD RUSH THROUGH COMETS TAIL Continued From Page One Oa bits where they once traveled as units But comets tails taUs are merely thin vapors driven out from the nu nucleus nucleus nucleus cleus by forces originating in the sun such as heat and electricity and then driven back into space space by the force of light And their splendid appearance is due in part to the electric energy which they carry within themselves and In part to reflection of the suns light It Is then nothing but a vapor through which we are to be passed and a very thin vapor so thin that it itis itis itis is literally imponderable a narrow escape from nothing There can therefore be absolutely no danger from the Impact It will produce no shock nor Int rel with the steady onward march of the earth In Its or orbit orbit orbit bit Has Unwholesome Elements Yet Tet we should like to know the thena na nature nature ture of this vapor before It shall shan be become become become come mingled with our atmosphere and made a part of our very breath What Is It 2 Some very unwholesome elements el ments we are roe obliged to admit It Itis ItI Itis is the business of the spectroscope to I take a beam of light from any dis distant di distant tant body and so analyze it as to de termine what elements e are in the I flame This done for comet we find sodium which appears in our common soda and salt hydrogen found In every drop of water yet ye harmful alone in certain combinations combinations lions chlorine and these last two deadly gases the last of all being capable of producing almost in instantaneous instantaneous s death It is manifest therefore that if the elements of a comets taU tall were to be precipitated upon us suddenly and co copiously copiously copiously piously as the gases of Mt Pelee were poured down upon the inhabitants of St S1 Pierre sending men to de ce destruction destruction in three minutes our out outlook outlook outlook look would be very gloomy But as the comets nucleus is surrounded with a gaseous envelope which ex extends extends extends tends far out into space so also the solid body of our sphere is surround surrounded ed with our gaseous atmosphere and with this the deadly elements of the comets tail tall must first reckon In making mak making makIng ing their attack upon the animal life lite of our globe Our situation is like that of the fish In the sea enveloped on all an sides by water Wate whatever be bethe b bethe the volume of noxious vapors va ors which is s poured out from the he volcano Its shore they must first penetrate the water wat r to reach the fish and probably probably ably abl will not so reach re ch it at all as to todo todo todo do any harm Vitiation Would Take Time Of course it is true that the law of gases provides for their tion when they are brought together But it takes time to complete any I such process It cannot be done with the swiftness with which a stone lone may maybe maybe maybe be hurled from any to the ground Even if our globe glob should graze the thick thiel vapors surrounding the comets it would perhaps be days before the atmosphere would be so vitiated thereby as to produce any dire consequences And in the I meantime influences would have been operating whose tendency would be to t eliminate the poison so that it should do no harm hann at alL It is a observation that the carbonic acid gas ga produced by combustion and by breathing Is appropriated by the vegetable vegetable world It would seem that there must be other deleterious s elements entering our atmosphere Without such processes very little understood yet clearly recognized the r would have been fatally vitiated ages es ago and nothing living would w uld be able to testify to the preserving care of the Creator and ruler of all allE Extremely E Tenuous But in view of the extreme and almost al almost almost most infinite of a comets tail tan we do not need to resort to arguments like these Doubtless the minute ele elements elements elements ments of which it Is composed are separated from each other as widely as are the considerable bodies known I as the Leonid meteors which we I sometimes meet In a steady stream inthe In Inthe I Ithe the month of November each one of whose many hundreds burns itself up in our our atmosphere and yet leaves It not the less pure fresh and ing Nor Is this all aU theory when we can point to two known instances of our globe passing through comets tails namely those of 1819 and The fact that in both these there cases no noone noone noone one knew it was happening proves that what was happening was not very serious What will happen then If there be no danger to apprehend is there anything of Interest to anticipate When we passed through the tall taU of the comet in 1861 1961 men thought they noticed a strange radiance in the I heavens heave s which even the light of the rising sun did not wholly extinguish They did not know what It was but regarded it as worthy of the written record which they made of it We Ve may believe therefore that a faint phosphorescent glory will cover the heavens soon after we have entered the tail say at about midnight and that it will wUl continue till dawn and possibly even after the sun has risen It Is unfortunate that the moon does dOeA not set that night till a a m as its radiance will diminish if not extin extinguish extinguish extinguish that of the comets tail tan But Buttrom from 2 ocl ck on n to daybreak the scene ought to be one of beauty if not of splendor bearing some analogy no doubt to that of the aurora borealis or northern lights So extraordinary are the events of this occasion probably never to be re repeated repeated repeated In a lifetime or much longer that for tor all lovers overs of nature the usual sleep schedule ought now to be rigidly rigid ly set aside Early In the morning of May Slay 17 not later than daybreak one ought to be looking low in the east to see the huge comet ascending the sky sk in advance of the sun Early in inthe Inthe Inthe the morning of May 18 IS one should look yonder again to see the comets tail tall stretching up from the east Its head lingers below the horizon as asif asIf asif if waiting for the sun At 7 Utah time on the evening of May 18 he should reflect that the comets head is now transiting the suns face Late In the evening of May Hay 18 IS and on till daylight he should be watching for the th comets taU tall In the sky and try to realize how he and all aU mankind are now burled buried hundreds of thousands of miles deep therein Soon after sunset in the early evening of May 19 he should look low in the west for forthe forthe forthe the comets tan tall streaking eastward d dand and early parly In the evening of May 20 ho should look l ok again and see the comet at its very best Surely it is u a cause for devout thankfulness to have been spared to witness this marvelous dis display display display play of ot divine power and glory |