May 12, 1 910] 



NATURE 



\2\ 



" That the meteor was really a fragment of Halley's 

 comet cannot be absolutely proved, but it is suggestive 

 and significant that it was directed at the correct date 

 from the computed radiant of the famous comet now 

 visible. It is hoped that further observations will be 

 furnished of this and of any similar objects which made 

 their apparitions at the important time when the earth 

 passed near the cometary* orbit." 



Observations of Hailey's Comef. 



Mr. Gustave Gillman, writing from Aguilas on May 2, 

 says : — 



■' I enclose a chart showing Halley's comet 'as seen at 

 4 a.m. this morning, and the extent to which the tail could 

 be traced, i.e. to slightly beyond Piscium. I have seen 

 it on two previous daNs, but there were too many clouds 

 to be certain of the extent of 

 the tail. I could see no bifur- 

 cation." 



Dr. A. C. Jordan writes : — 



'■ At Broadstairs yesterday 

 morning, Sunday, May 8, I 

 had a good view of Halley's 

 comet. There was a slight 

 mist over the horizon, but I 

 was able to keep the comet in 

 view from 2.50 until 3.25. It 

 was easily visible to the un- 

 aided eye, and was brighter 

 than Algenib (7 Pegasus), the 

 nearest bright star. Through 

 an ordinary binocular the con- 

 trast between this clearly de- 

 fined star and the nebulous- 

 looking comet was very well 

 marked. Toward 3.30 the 

 approach of day rendered this 

 part of the sky so bright that 

 it was no longer possible to 

 keep the comet under observa- 

 tion." 



Further details as to the 

 appearance of Halley's comet, 

 as seen at Malta with naked 

 ^ye and field-glasses, are sent 

 to us by Mr. C. Leach. The 

 comet was seen by several 

 people, and Mr. Leach found 

 that both nucleus and tail 

 were easily picked up without 

 optical aid on April 24, 25, 26, 

 27, and 30. He states that it 

 was seen best between 3.45 and 

 4 a.m., and faded in the dawn 

 at 4.10 a.m. The tail is de- 

 scribed as lengthening and 

 getting more elegant, its length 

 being a little greater than the 

 distance separating the comet 

 and Venus ; this would mean 

 an apparent length of about 7° 

 or 8°, and an actual length 



of about ten million miles. The nucleus, on April 30, 

 is described as being sharply defined and at the very 

 beginning of the comet, its brightness being about 

 equal to that of a Andromedae (mag. 21). A rough sketch 

 sent by Mr. Leach represents the comet as having a 

 straight, narrow, bifurcated tail, reminding one of the 

 Paris drawing of the great comet of 1843. 



Mr. Gruning, of Ealing, reports having seen the comet 

 tin several occasions with field-glasses, and tw'ice, on Mav 



tnd 8, with the naked eye. To know where to look for 



rhe first time, he observed .\ltair emerge from behind a 

 chimney the previous evening, and then, by a simple 

 calculation, found the time, and the position with regard 

 to the same chimney, for the comet's appearance next 

 morning. 



Mr. Bellamy reports to the Daily Mail that the comet 

 was observed at Oxford University Observatory from 2.40 



NO. 21 15, VOL. 83] 



to 4 a.m. on May 9. It was visible without a telescope, 

 and was estimated to be about as bright as a second- 

 magnitude star. Observations were also made at Green- 

 wich with the altazimuth. 



According to a correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, 

 observations at the .Milan Observatory, on May 8 or 9, 

 showed a straight tail some twenty degrees in length, or, 

 actually, about 145 million miles long. A tail of this 

 length would probably reach to the earth at the time of 

 transit. 



Observations of the comet during its near approach to 

 Venus on May 2 were prevented, at English observatories, 

 by bad weather, so that the possible magnetic-attraction 

 phenomena mentioned by Prof. Birkeland could not be 

 looked for. 



In an address delivered on Monday evening at the annual 



Halley's Comet as seen at .Aguilas on May a, 1910, at 4 a.m. 



meeting of the Victoria Institute, Mr. Crommelin directed 

 attention to one or two possible references to the comet in 

 historical writings, citing the " almond rod " mentioned 

 in Jeremiah i., 11-14, as a possible allusion to the comet's 

 tail seen rising before the head. He also directed attention 

 to the improbability of our being able to detect the presence 

 of the tail should the earth pass through it. In suggesting, 

 that the comet would afford a good display during the 

 evenings of the last ten days in May, he warned his hearers, 

 not to expect such a spectacle as was afforded by the 

 great comet of 1882. 



In the..4//i della Pontificia. Accad. Romana dei Suovi 

 Lincei (February 20) Dr. Pio Emanuelli points out that 

 the velocities of Halley's comet at perihelion and aphelion 

 are often exaggerated, and, using Mr. Crommelin 5 

 elements, he determines the true values. These he finds 

 to be 55 km. and 0-9 km. (35-6 and 0-56 miles) per second 



