HALLEY S COMET. 



213 



to hold continuously but, all apparent shortcomings notwith- 

 standing, Halley's comet at last ! the comet of comets ! the 

 comet which heralded the fall of Jerusalem, was probably 

 seen by S. Peter, was such a conspicuous object in Europe 

 the year of the Conquest, and whose regular returns every 

 three-quarters of a century have been traced back to before 

 the commencement of the Christian Era. These and other 

 thoughts rushed to my mind as I gazed at that indistinct 

 patch of fiuffiness in the constellation Pisces on that rough 

 January night, which was cold as well, for hail showers were 

 being borne along on a high N.W. wind, and flashes of light- 

 ning from the cumuli clouds illumined the darkness at times. 



My next look at Halley's was on Saturday evening, 

 January 22nd, when, in spite of moonlight, it was possible to 

 glimpse it with the help of binoculars. This date is 

 memorable because the Great Daylight Comet (1910«), then 

 at the height of its magnificence, Avas first seen in all its 

 beauty at Guernsey. A week later (Saturday, January 29th) 

 I had the good fortune to observe both comets on the same 

 evening at St. Martin's. Low down in the western sky was 

 the unexpected stranger, both the head and long tail of which 

 were clearly visible to the naked eye — it was altogether a 

 most striking object. After watching it disappear below the 

 horizon I fixed up a telescope and with a little searching 

 " picked up " Halley's, then in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the planet Saturn. The weather was good for observing 

 and it was less difficult to hold the comet in view. In 

 appearance it presented the same ill-defined whitish nebulosity 

 observed on the former occasions. 



Cloudy nights, moonlight, and various engagements 

 prevented my getting any view of our visitor during 

 February, and in March it had approached so near to the sun 

 as to make a search for it with small instruments useless. 

 On the 25th of that month, Good Friday, the comet passed 

 behind the sun as seen from the earth, or, in other words, was 

 in conjunction with that luminary. This ended the first or 

 " evening " phase ; to see the famous comet now meant very 

 early rising, for after " conjunction " it became a morning star. 

 The first news of its having been seen as such came from the 

 Cape, and ran : — " Capetown, Friday (April 8) : Halley's 

 comet was sighted at 5.50 this morning, and was visible for 

 ten minutes on the eastern horizon before fading in the 

 daylight. . . . The comet is brighter than it was in 

 February and will increase in brightness daily, but is still 

 invisible to the naked eye." 



