Exposures of October 21, 22, and 23, showing probable encounter with
some medium which shattered the tail. Taken at Lick Observatory by
Professor E. E. Barnard
]
“The picture that I got proved to be a very important one, as the
comet was then undergoing the most remarkable changes. I must say
that a good many thrills passed over me during that lonely mountain
ride in the dead of night—some for the chance that I might drive
over into a cañon to death, and others for the possible interruption
of my terrestrial existence through an encounter with some hungry,
roaming mountain lion. In the main, the journey was a most
impressive one. Alone in the mountains, with only the horse in front
and my friends the stars above me, I doubt if my courage had not
failed me entirely if the friendly stars had not encouraged me with
their presence.”
CHAPTER SIX
RETURN OF HALLEY’S COMET IN 1910
“It would have been a gratification to know that everyone who saw this
wonderful object, did so with the same feeling of elation and
wonder—one would almost say veneration—with which the average
astronomer regarded this beautiful and mysterious object stretching
its wonderful stream of light across the sky.”
—E. E. BARNARD.
While Halley’s comet, at its return in 1910, was undoubtedly a marvelous
object as seen in the clear skies of America and in southern climes, yet
it was more or less of a disappointment to watchers of the sky in
England, because the view was impaired by twilight and low altitude. Nor
did it come up to the expectations of those whose hopes had been aroused
by the fine series of ever-varying appearances, recorded by the camera
in connection with the Morehouse comet, referred to in the last chapter.
Nevertheless, according to Professor Barnard, expert in photography of
celestial objects, had it not been for the remarkable phenomena recorded
by the camera in connection with the Brooks comet of 1893 (see
photograph), and the Morehouse comet of 1908, the numerous photographs
obtained of Halley’s comet would have placed it in the first rank among
the records of these bodies. Yet while it lacked much of interest as
seen with the eye of the sensitive plate, it left a lasting impression
on the human eye, adding renewed interest to its long life history of
more than two thousand years. The train of the comet reached the
prodigious length of 140°, owing to its being so near the earth, and its
great curvature was shown by the fact that it remained visible in the
morning sky for two days after the head had become visible in the
evening sky.
[Illustration: