Marvels of the Universe 



o 



65 



COMETS 



BY G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S. 



Great Comets' which appeal ostentatiously to the public are so rare that probably the announce- 

 ment made in the newspapers in September, 1911, that no fewer than seven Comets were then under 

 the observation of astronomers in differents parts of the world fell rather flat on the minds of 

 the uninitiated. In 

 realit}'. Comets are 

 very common, especi- 

 ally now that so many 

 giant telescopes are 

 available for picking 

 them up and foIlo\\ing 

 them. 



In bygone times, 

 when there were no 

 telescopes available, 

 of course it was only 

 the specially brilliant 

 ones which attracted 

 notice, and as these 

 only appeared at rare 

 inten.-als of, it might 

 be, twenty or thirty 

 years, they came to be 

 looked upon as por- 

 tents, and portents of 

 evil rather than of 

 good to the nations. 

 Shakespeare, therefore, 



I'll'.l; l,iq 



STICKLEBACKS AND NEST. 



nursery it has buiit 

 (About one-third less 



In this photograph a male Three-spined SticUlebacU is guarding the 

 against the attack of a marauding Ten-spined Stickleback (upper figure*. 

 than natural size. I 



was no more than abreast of the times when he wrote : 



" Comets importing change of times and state.'; 

 Brandish your crystal tresses to the sl;y, 

 .And with them scourge the bad revolting stars 

 That have consented unto Henry's death." 



Allusions in the same spirit may be found throughout the literature of the world from classical 

 times down to the last century, and, indeed, belief in the mischievous influence of Comets is not 

 even yet extinct. On several occasions during 1911 I was asked whether the intense hot weather 

 was not due to the prevalence of Comets ; but the answer was bound to be in the negative, and 

 it may as well be stated once for all that there is not the slightest ground for the opinion that Comets 

 exercise any influence whatever on mundane affairs, except it be to frighten nervous people. 



Ascending to a more scientific level, it may be pointed out that nearly all Comets at their first 

 discovery need to be termed " telescopic " Comets ; that is to say, are only visible in telescopes, 

 and the great majority of them never become anything else. Whilst some Comets are picked up 

 by chance, there has been carried on now for many years, especially in America, a systematic search 

 for them by sweeping over parts of the heavens in the neighbourhood of the sun immediately after 

 sunset and before sunrise. In other words, the best chance of finding a Comet is when, after a long 

 journey from the distant realms of space, it approaches the sun — the normal place of assembly for 

 such Comets as come within the ken of us who live on the earth. 



