Page:EB1911 - Volume 06.djvu/785

Rh any appreciable fraction of the sun’s light. This result seems also to show that, with the possible exception of a very small central mass, what seems to telescopic vision as a nucleus is really only the central portion of the coma, which, as the distance from the centre increases, becomes less and less dense by imperceptible gradations.

Another fact tending towards this same conclusion is that after this comet passed perihelion it showed several nuclei following each other. Evidently the powerful attraction of the sun had separated the parts of the apparent nucleus, which were following each other in nearly the same orbit. As they could not have been completely brought together again, we may suppose that in such cases the smaller nuclei were permanently separated from the main body. In addition to this, the remarkable similarity of the orbit of this comet to that of several others indicates a group of bodies moving in nearly the same orbit. The other members of the group were the great comets of 1843, 1880 and 1887. The latter, though so bright as to be conspicuous to the naked eye, showed no nucleus whatever. The closely related orbits of the four bodies are also remarkable for approaching nearer the sun at perihelion than does the orbit of any other known body. All of these comets pass through the matter of the sun’s corona with a velocity of more than 100 m. per second without suffering any retardation. As it is beyond all reasonable probability that several independent bodies should have moved in orbits so nearly the same, the conclusion is that the comets were originally portions of one mass, which gradually separated in the course of ages by the powerful attraction of the sun as the collection successively passed the perihelion. It may be remarked that observations on the comet of 1843 seemed to show a slight ellipticity of the orbit, corresponding to a period of several centuries; but the deviation of all the orbits from a parabola is too slight to be established by observations. The periods of the comets are therefore unknown except that they must be counted by centuries and possibly by thousands of years.

Another fact which increases the complexity of the question is the well-established connexion of comets with meteoric showers. The shower of November 13–15, now known as the Leonids, which recurred for several centuries at intervals of about one-third of a century, are undoubtedly due to a stream of particles left behind by a comet observed in 1866. The same is true of Biela’s comet, the disintegrated particles of which give rise to the Andromedids, and probably true also of the Perseids, or August meteors, the orbits of which have a great similarity to a comet seen in 1862. The general and well-established conclusion seems to be that, in addition to the visible features of a comet, every such body is followed in its orbit by a swarm of meteoric particles which must have been gradually detached and separated from it. (See .)

The source of the repulsive force by which the matter forming the tail of a comet is driven away from the sun is another question that has not yet been decisively answered. Two causes have been suggested, of which one has only recently been brought to light. This is the repulsion of the sun’s rays, a form of action the probability of which was shown by J. Clerk Maxwell in 1870, and which was experimentally established about thirty years later. The intensity of this action on a particle is proportional to the surface presented by the particle to the rays, and therefore to the square of its diameter, while its mass, and therefore its gravitation to the sun, are proportional to the cube of the diameter. It follows that if the size and mass of a particle in space are below a certain limit, the repulsion of the rays will exceed the attraction of the sun, and the particle will be driven off into space. But, in order that this repulsive force may act, the particles, however minute they may be, must be opaque. Moreover, theory shows that there is a lower as well as an upper limit to their magnitude, and that it is only between certain definable limits of magnitude that the force acts. Conceiving the particle to be of the density of water, and considering its diameter as a diminishing variable, theory shows that the repulsion will balance gravity when the diameter has reached 0.0015 of a millimetre. As the diameter is reduced below this limit the ratio of the repulsive to the attractive force increases, but soon reaches a maximum, after which it diminishes down to a diameter of 0.00007 mm., when the two actions are again balanced. Below this limit the light speedily ceases to act. It follows that a purely gaseous body, such as would emit a characteristic bright line spectrum, would not be subject to the repulsion. We must therefore conclude that both the solid and gaseous forms of matter are here at play, and this view is consonant with the fact that the comet leaves behind it particles of meteoric matter.

Another possible cause is electrical repulsion. The probability of this cause is suggested by recent discoveries in radioactivity and by the fact that the sun undoubtedly sends forth electrical emanations which may ionize the gaseous molecules rising from the nucleus, and lead to their repulsion from the sun, thus resulting in the phenomena of the tail. But well-established laws are not yet sufficiently developed to lead to definite conclusions on this point, and the question whether both causes are combined, and, if not, to which one the phenomena in question are mainly due, must be left to the future.

A curious circumstance, which may be explained by a duplex character of the matter forming a cometary tail, is the great difference between the visual and photographic aspect of these bodies. The soft, delicate, feathery-like form which the comet with its tail presents to the eye is wanting in a photograph, which shows principally a round head with an irregularly formed tail much like the knotted stalk of a plant. It follows that the light emitted by the central axis of the tail greatly exceeds in actinic power the diffuse light around it. A careful comparison of the form and intensity of the photographic and visual tails may throw much light on the question of the constitution of these bodies, but no good opportunity of making the comparison has been afforded since the art of celestial photography has been brought to its present state of perfection.

The main conclusion to which the preceding facts and considerations point is that the matter of a comet is partly solid and partly gaseous. The gaseous form is shown conclusively by the spectroscope, but in view of the extreme delicacy of the indications with this instrument no quantitative estimate of the gas can be made. As there is no central mass sufficient to hold together a continuous atmosphere of elastic gas of any sort, it seems probable that the gaseous molecules are only those rising from the coma, possibly by ordinary evaporation, but more probably by the action of the ultra-violet and other rays of the sun giving rise to an ionization of disconnected gaseous molecules. The matter cannot be wholly gaseous because in this case there could be no central force sufficient to keep the parts of the comet together.

The facts also point to the conclusion that the solid matter of a comet is formed of a swarm or cloud of small disconnected masses, probably having much resemblance to the meteoric masses which are known to be flying through the solar system and possibly of the same general kind as these. The question whether there is any central solid of considerable mass is still undecided; it can only be said that if so, it is probably small relative to cosmic masses in general—more likely less than greater than 100 m. in diameter. The light of the comet therefore proceeds from two sources: one the incandescence of gases, the other the sunlight reflected from the solid parts. No estimate can be formed of the ratio between these two kinds of light until a bright comet shall be spectroscopically observed during an entire apparition.

Origin and Orbits of Comets.—The great difference which we have pointed out between comets and the permanent bodies of the solar system naturally suggested the idea that these bodies do not belong to that system at all, but are nebulous masses, scattered through the stellar spaces, and brought one by one into the sphere of the sun’s attraction. The results of this view are easily shown to be incompatible with the observed facts. The sun, carrying the whole solar system with it, is moving through space with a speed of about 10 m. per second. If it approached a comet nearly at rest the result would be a relative motion of this amount which, as the comet came nearer,