News: Clark Co. - Heavenly Wonder (Comet - 1910)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Haley, Cook, Peary

----Source: The Granton News (Granton, Clark Co., WI.) February 4, 1910

The Heavenly Wonder (4 February 1910)

Our readers have no doubt observed the comet which for several weeks past has been visible in the western skies shortly after sundown.  This is not the famous Haley’s comet which cannot be seen with the naked eye until April, but is known to astronomers as the "1910".  Its tail is more than 15 degrees long and will be seen in continually better perspective as it gets farther away from the sun.  Its edges are frayed and the tail is remarkable for being uncommonly straight. The fact of its pointing away from the sun is explained most satisfactorily, according to astronomers, by the theory of light pressure. According to this theory the pressure of light rays from the sun blows the light tail of the comet like smoke, away from the sun. The uncommon straightness of the tail proves it is composed of the lightest of all gases, hydrogen, and the pressure of the light waves being strong enough to overcome gravity, which would tend to curve the tail downward.

The "1910" is playing the role of a heavenly Dr. Cook, to the Commander Peary of Halley’s Comet.  The "1910" arrived before its rival, but Halley’s is much the greater comet.  Its visitations to earth at seventy-five-year intervals have worked mighty upon the minds and superstitions of men.  Halley’s Comet will be seen in the evening sky until March 23, when it will pass west of the sun, remaining in the morning sky until May 18. After this it will return to the evening sky and run very rapidly eastward, moving at the rate of 900,000 miles a day.