Amazing stories
The Halley’s Comet Fuss of 1910
When the world went crazy over a comet.
Taking it’s name after the astronomer Edmond Halley, Halley’s Comet passes by Earth once every 75-76 years and has been recorded of doing so since at least 240 BC. It’s a space rock of about 9.3 miles long and 5 miles wide and if it would collide with the Earth, needless to say that would be a disastrous event, bigger then that of the asteroid which is claimed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Luckily it keeps at a safe distance closest it came was ‘only’ 3 million miles from Earth.
Although a regular visitor, it’s pass from 1910 stands out. Years before the actual arrival of the comet speculations ran hot with stories of the influence of the comet on Earth major events. Articles were published in newspapers attributing wars, plagues and other ugly disasters to the comet’s appearance over the ages. Events like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Romans sacking Jerusalem to more recent events of the early 1900, like the looming war in the Balkans, labor unrest in Europe and the USA, all the fault of the comet.
“would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet”
Camille Flammarion — French astronomer
There were some that believed the comet would wipe out life on the planet — one such theory came from Camille Flammarion — a French astronomer. He was convinced that the 24 million mile tail of the comet contained a poisonous gas (triggered by the Yerkes Observatory’s announcement of cyanogen gas, a gas related to cyanide, in the comets tail). As a result of a feature on his theory published in the respected New York Times — other less credible news outlets came out with their own over the top stories. This prompted people to start panic buying gas masks. Swindlers looking to make a quick buck out of the craze made a killing by selling anti-comet pills and other comet related merchandise. Worried parishioners flocked to their churches and according to science writer Matt Simon, people actually sealed up their keyholes to keep poison out of their homes.
“the Maker of the universe” would not allow any harm to come to “the home of the highest form of life that He has fashioned.”
Sir Robert Ball of Cambridge University
Luckily most of the people were just curious about the comet. For the first time in history science had progressed to a point were astronomers were able to photograph the event and conduct all kinds of new analyses. Instead of gas masks these curious people were buying telescopes so they could see for themselves what all the fuzz was about.
On the 29th of April 1910 Halley’s Comet became visible in the night sky, first only when using a telescope and later in the beginning of May to the naked eye, if you were willing to get up early enough.
So what happened when the tail finally met up with the Earth — did the Apocalypse come upon us? Was our planet poisoned with the cyanide gas?
The world prepared for the unknown — some in by attending special comet parties hosted by a number of restaurants, some on their rooftops looking at the sky above, scientist gazing up in their Observatories.
Perhaps a bit of a letdown after all the excitement leading up to the event but it turned out — life goes on. No real impact was felt on the earth apart from some reported minor magnetic effects. And so Halley’s Comet moved on with it’s journey back to the Kuiper Belt. If after reading all this you got excited to go and see the comet for yourself, well no need to pre-order your telescope just yet — next visit will be in July 2061. I sincerely hope you (and I for that matter) will be around to witness it.
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