The story of the sun, moon, and stars . s-trial calamity, yet society is apt to be nervous respect-ing these bodies, as likely to cause some great naturalconvulsion by collision with our globe. The great comet, which in 1683 received first thename of Halleys comet, appeared last in 1835, hisreturn having been foretold within three days of itsactually taking place. For Halleys comet is a mem-ber of the Solar System, having a yearly journey ofseventy-six earthly years. He journeys nearer thesun than Venus, and travels farther away thanNeptune. In the years 1858, 1861, and 1862, three morecomets
The story of the sun, moon, and stars . s-trial calamity, yet society is apt to be nervous respect-ing these bodies, as likely to cause some great naturalconvulsion by collision with our globe. The great comet, which in 1683 received first thename of Halleys comet, appeared last in 1835, hisreturn having been foretold within three days of itsactually taking place. For Halleys comet is a mem-ber of the Solar System, having a yearly journey ofseventy-six earthly years. He journeys nearer thesun than Venus, and travels farther away thanNeptune. In the years 1858, 1861, and 1862, three morecomets appeared, all visible without the help of atelescope. Of these three, Donatis comet, in 1858, MORE ABOUT COMETS AND METEORITES. 249 was far superior to the rest. This fine object wasfirst discovered on the 2d of June by Dr. Donati, atFlorence. It appeared at first as a faint nebulouspatch of light, without any remarkable condensation;and as its motion towards the sun at that time wasslow, it was not till the beginning of September that. DONATI S COMET, 1858. it became visible to the naked eye. A short tail wasthen seen on the side opposite to the sun. The development was afterwards rapid, and thecomet became equally interesting to the professionalastronomer and to the unlearned gazer. In the firstweek of October the tail attained its greatest length,360. At this time the tail was sensibly curved, and 250 STORY OF THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS. had the appearance of a large ostrich-feather whenwaved gently in the hand. At the latter end of Octo-ber the comet was lost in the evening twilight. Itsnearest approach to the earth was about equal to halfthe distance of the earth from the sun, and the nearestapproach to Venus was about one-ninth part of thatdistance. An elliptical orbit, with a periodic time ofmore than 2,000 years, has been assigned to our latevisitor. It was a singular fact about this comet that at onetime the star Arcturus could be seen shining throughthe densest portion
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidstor, booksubjectastronomy
