Comet Disintegrates

A GRAND SIGHT WILL BE SEEN EASTERN SKIES.

Pro. Hall Speaks of the Planets Being in a Straight Line in December of This Year.

A somewhat rare conjunction of planets next December has caused some believers in astrology to predict that half or three-quarters of the people of the earth will die during this year and some have even predicted the end of the world and all because as they say Saturn, Venus, Uranus, Mars. Mercury and Jupiter will be clustered on one side of the earth, with only Neptune to balance, so to speak, on the other.

Prof. Asaph Hall, jr., of the chair of astronomy in talking with a student correspondent said :

'"Astrological predictions are outgrown. There undoubtedly will be a singular combination of the solar world during the early days of December, and while the solar system at that time will present an uncommon phase, it will by no means be a rare one. The phenomenon we are expecting occurs at regular intervals of about 50 years, and goes to demonstrate the fact that things may be in the same direction in space and not be near one another. Prognosticating astrologers give an entirely wrong idea of the situation. If the various members of the solar world were grouped in the form they predict, the effect would be tremendous and the solar system destroyed. As a matter of fact, the conditions will be these: All the planets except Mercury and Neptune will be in 'conjunction,' that is to say, a straight line drawn from the earth through the center of the sun would pass through, or very near, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus, though, as I have said, it is simply a curious combination and does not mean anything significant."

In reply to the question as to the importance of the current year in astronomical circles, Prof. Hall [said : "It is a year particularly fraught with interesting phenomena. On Nov. 13, we will pass through one of the largest meteoric showers of modern times. A comet will become disintegrated in the east,  and from midnight until dawn the heavens will present strange and beautiful sight to the world. The eclipses are merely a matter of routine. June 7 we will observe a partial eclipse of the sun, followed by a total eclipse of the moon on June 22. The annular eclipse of the sun will occur on Dec. 2 and I sincerely hope we will exist long enough to see the eclipse of the moon on Dec. 16. "