CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Popular appreciation of Comets and Eclipses and shooting stars.—Comets always objects of popular interest and sometimes of alarm.—Quotation from a writer of the 17th century.—Physical appearance of an ordinary Comet.—Comets without Tails more numerous than Comets with Tails.—General description of a Comet.—The Nucleus.—The Coma.—The Tail.—Small Comets usually circular in form or nearly so.—Path of a Comet.—Great diversity in the size and brilliancy of Comets.—Comets usually diminish in brilliancy at each return.—Halley's Comet, a case in point.—But this opinion has been questioned.—Holetschek's Inquiries.—Actual Dimensions of Comets.—The Colour of Comets. |
pages 1–9 |
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF COMETS.
Comets probably self-luminous.—Existence of phases doubtful.—Erratic changes of brilliancy.—Comets with planetary discs.—Transformations undergone by Comets.—Transits across the Sun never recorded. Flimsy nature of cometary matter.—Breaking up of a Comet into fragments.—The instance of Biela's Comet.—Observations by Liais of the Comet of 1860 (iii.).—Other instances of Comets breaking up.—Berberich's investigations respecting Comets which may have broken up.—Comets which follow one another in nearly identical orbits.—Do Comets perish by the exhaustion of their materials?—Summary of opinions as to what those materials probably are. |
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CHAPTER III.
THE TAILS OF COMETS.
Tails usually a prolongation of the Radius Vector.—Occasionally the tail faces the Sun.—Then called a "beard".—Comets with several tails.—The Comet of 1825.—The Comet of 1744 with 6 tails.—Curvature of |
