When once we recognize that this,
and this only, can be the explanation of the associated group of five
comets, we perceive that very interesting and important light has been
thrown on the subject of comets generally. To begin with: what an
amazing comet that must have been from which these five, and we know not
how many more, were formed by disaggregative processes--probably by the
divellent action of repulsive forces exerted by the sun! Those who
remember the comets of 1843 and 1882 as they appeared when at their full
splendor will be able to imagine how noble an appearance a comet would
present which was formed of these combined together in one. But the
comet of 1880 was described by all who saw it in the southern hemisphere
as most remarkable in appearance, despite the faintness of its head. The
great southern comet of the present year was a striking object in the
skies, though it showed the same weakness about the head. That of 1668
was probably as remarkable in appearance as even the comet of 1882. A
comet formed by combining all these together would certainly surpass in
magnificence all the comets ever observed by astronomers.
And then, what enormous periods of time must have been required to
distribute the fragments of a single comet so widely that one would be
found returning to its perihelion more than two centuries after another!
When I spoke of one member of the Biela group being in aphelion when
another would be in perihelion, I was speaking of a difference of only
three and one-third years in time; and even that would require thousands
of years.
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