154 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Yerkes Observatory 



A COMET WHICH LOST ITS TAIL AS IT FLEW AWAY A SORT 01? TADPOLE OF 



THE HEAVENS 



Before the time of Halley the visitations of comets were looked forward to with dread. 

 So ephemeral are most of them, however, that Barnard has observed a central passage of one 

 of them over a star of the ninth magnitude, yet the star remained distinct and seemed to be 

 floating through the comet instead of the latter's passing before it. 



was an Englishman who had first pre- 

 dicted the return of a comet. Sure 

 enough, in the language of the street, 'he 

 had my number.' With less proportion- 

 ate departure from his schedule than 

 the Congressional Limited makes in its 

 Washington-New York run. I reap- 

 peared, having traveled some seven bil- 

 lion miles in the interim. So I have to 

 admil thai Halley must have known what 

 he was talking about." 



SIRIUS, KING OF THE STARRY EMPIRE, 

 TESTIFIES 



The next witness is a star — Sinus by 

 name. His evidence may be somewhat 

 self-incriminating, hut perhaps it is even 

 more valuable therefor. It makes the 

 seven billion miles that Halley's comet 

 travel- between its earthly visits seem 

 only a morning constitutional. Here's 

 lu's testimony : 



"For untold centuries I had been 

 shining down upon the sons of men with 

 my bluish-white light. I was the king 

 of kings of the starry empire, ruling my 

 own- constellation, Cants Major, and at 

 the same time excelling all of the other 

 stars in the heavens for brightness. I am 

 third among fixed stars — that is, those 

 outside the solar system — in nearness to 

 the earth, but I was to men only a star 

 and nothing more. They called me the 

 'Dog Star' and said my constellation was 

 one of the hounds of Orion. 



"But one day that man they call Ed- 

 mund Halley got to studying my habits. 

 He made a series of notations in the 

 year T718 to the efTect that I was not 

 behaving as fixed stars are supposed to 

 deport themselves, drawing attention to 

 the fact that I frequently changed my 

 position on the path I was traveling. 

 He hinted that it might be that I was 

 departing from the straight and narrow 



