HALLEY S COMET. 



217 



lunar halo became visible. Rain fell after midnight and some 

 lightning occurred, while towards morning a thick fog 

 developed. To those on the watch no positive manifestations 

 of the presence of the tail of Halley's comet were seen. 



And now began the third and last phase in this year's 

 visit of the celebrated heavenly body. The comet, after the 

 transit, once more became an evening star as in the early 

 months of the year but with this difference : then it was 

 rushing sunwards, now, having made due obeisance to its lord 

 and master, it was hastening away on its long journey into the 

 depths of inter-planetary space. And in so doing it passed 

 comparatively very close to us on Friday, May 20th, the day 

 of the funeral of our lamented King Edward VII. On that 

 date the comet and the earth were rushing past each other at 

 a distance of only 14 millions of miles. 



Nothing was seen of the visitor at Guernsey that evening, 

 but the following day, Saturday, May 21st, a few enthusiasts 

 saw it. By agreement I met Mr. Rammell at Les Bemonts 

 at 8 p.m. and after waiting patiently for the western sky to 

 clear, we saw the historic body with the naked eye from 9.10 

 to 9.30 o'clock, when cloud again shut it out. It was a very 

 disappointing spectacle indeed ; absolutely tailless, only a 

 faint yellowish-white nebulosity of about magnitude 3 ; 

 certainly a much fainter object than when I saw it in the 

 early morning of the 9th. Bright moonlight, however, had 

 doubtless something to say in the matter. 



On the Sunday evening* the comet was invisible owing 

 to cloud and haze, but on the Monday (May 23rd) no cloud 

 and very little haze interfered with observation, and hundreds 

 of eyes in all parts of Guernsey were turned to the west sky 

 in search of the visitor. At 8.45 it was just possible to see it 

 with the naked eye, and it remained distinctly in view until 

 10.30, then disappeared in the mists near the horizon. To most 

 people it was again a very disappointing sight for no tail was 

 visible, and against the twilight and moonlit sky the celebrated 

 comet did not show up with the brightness one had been 

 led to expect it would now do. Perfect weather for watching 

 its movements continued to prevail night after night until 

 Friday, the 27th, on which evening we obtained our best vieAv 

 of the wanderer. 



From the popular standpoint a comet is no comet at all 

 unless it exhibits a tail, and in the early days of this week it 

 looked very much as though Halley's would depart without 

 vouchsafing to us residents in the Channel Islands a view of 

 that important part of its make-up. But no, on the Wednes- 



