It is possible that the Comets of 1668, 1843, 1880, 1882 and 1887, all travelling in approximately the same path, are fragments of a single large body which was broken up by the gravitational action of other bodies in the system, or through violent encounter with the Sun’s surroundings.
The luminous tail which streams behind the nucleus, which Shakespeare described so beautifully as “crystal tresses,” is startling, to say the least. Despite a length which may exceed a hundred million miles, it is so diaphanously light and subtle that it is difficult to compare it with any earthly fabric. The air that we breathe is a dense blanket in comparison. Several hundred cubic miles of the matter composing that wonderful luminous plume would not outweigh a jarful of air. By reason of its fairy lightness, it is possible for a tail occupying a volume thousands of times greater than the sun to sweep through our solar system without causing any perturbations in planetary movements.
No celestial phenomenon has caused more perplexity than the ghostly sheaf of light we call a Comet’s tail. In a day, in a few hours even, the form of that wonderful gossamer may change. Hence it is that periodic Comets are identified when they return, not by the length and arch of their tails, but by their orbits. These alone are permanent.
When a Comet is first seen in the telescope, it appears as a diminutive filmy patch, often unadorned by any tail. As it travels on toward the Sun, at a speed compared with which a modern rifle bullet would seem to crawl, violent eruptions occur in the nucleus.
The ejected matter is bent back to form the cloak called the “coma.” With a nearer approach to the sun, the tail begins to sprout, increasing in size and brightness as it proceeds. Evidently there is some connection between the Sun and the tail, something akin to cause and effect.
When the Comet rushes on toward the Sun, invariably the tail drifts behind the nucleus like the smoke from a locomotive. But when the Comet swings around the Sun and travels away from it, a startling change takes place. The tail no longer trails behind, but projects in front as if some mighty solar wind were blowing it in advance of the head.
This phenomenon has long been an astronomical riddle. Here was a kind of matter that refused to obey the laws of gravitation and yield to the enormous pull of the Sun.
OCTOBER 5. OCTOBER 9.
DONATI’S COMET OF 1858.
It was thought for a time that the tail was flung away from the Sun by stupendous repelling electrical forces. That electricity plays its part in the formation of the fairy plume is conceivable, and even probable; but recently the physicist has discovered a new source of repellent energy which very plausibly explains the mystery of a Comet’s tail.