by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, February 11, 2022.
Stargazers in Exeter were excited to greet 1910 – Halley’s Comet was due to arrive in the Spring. In her diary, 12-year-old Helen Tufts noted, “And we all saw the comet. Thea, Jim, Henry and all of us.” Her entry was for January 26th – four full months before Halley’s comet was visible in New Hampshire– leading the historical society’s transcriber to flag it for verification. Another diary in the collections, that of Marion Louise Tyler, had a similar entry for January 26th, 1910: “Saw a comet about six o’clock.” How could both girls have been so utterly wrong?
Turns out, there can be more than one comet in a year. Everyone was eagerly expecting Halley’s comet to make a reappearance – it was anticipated by astronomers and had been sighted by powerful telescopes in September of the previous year. In mid-January, much to everyone’s surprise, a very bright comet was spotted by diamond miners in South Africa. It wasn’t in the predicted location of Halley’s and, more importantly, was much, much brighter than expected. This was an entirely different comet quickly dubbed “Comet A 1910” although most people called it the Daylight Comet. The Exeter News-Letter reprinted an article from the New York Tribune to assure readers that this was a different comet. “Halley’s comet, though increasing in brightness, is not yet visible without a glass, while a stricking characteristic of Comet A, 1910, is its exceptional brilliancy.” Helen mentions the comet again a few days after her first entry to say that they saw the comet after 5:30pm. Marion had viewed it at 6pm, so both girls were viewing the comet just after dusk. Whether it was visible during the daytime in Exeter is hard to tell.
Astronomy suddenly became a hot topic. The sophomore class at Robinson Female Seminary in Exeter was invited to an evening astronomy class at the Elliott Street home of mathematics teacher, Emily Tapley. Marion attended. “Went to Miss Tapley’s room at 7 pm. We were all going out to see the stars, but there weren’t any out. Miss Tapley knows a lot about astronomy.” Helen was too young to attend the event, but went with her family to a Merrill Lecture at the Town Hall on March 16th featuring Professor William Brooks of Hobart College. Described as “the discoverer of more comets than any living astronomer,” Brooks was reassuring about the upcoming arrival of Halley’s comet. He needed to be, because crazy stories had been circulating since the fall that the comet might just kill all life on earth.
As recently as February, the St.Albans Daily Messenger had a headline, not particularly prominent on the front page considering its wording: “COMET FULL OF PERIL – HALLEY’S MAY POSSIBLY SNUFF OUT LIFE ON THE EARTH. IS FULL OF DEADLY CYANOGEN GAS – It is the Deadliest Poison Known, One Taste and You Drop Dead – If We Pass Through Its Tail?” The threat was based on spectroscopic studies of the comet. “The fact that cyanogen is present in the comet has been communicated to Camille Flammarion, the distinguished French scientist, and many other astronomers, and is arousing a great deal of discussion as to the probable effect on the earth should it pass through the comet’s tail. Professor Flammarion is of the opinion that the cyanogen gas would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet.” If the reader made it to the final paragraph of the article without having an existential collapse, they’d reach “Most astronomers do not agree with Flammarion, inasmuch as the tail of a comet is of almost inconceivable rarefication.” Having survived the unexpected A-1910 comet, most people seemed relatively calm as Halley’s approached. Marion, a mature 15-year-old, even joked about it on May 11th (a day that must have had some bad weather), “Strange atmosphere all day. I guess Halley’s comet is having some effect on the weather.” Like Helen, Marion had attended Brooks’ astronomy lecture, so she probably found Flammarion’s predictions of imminent death laughable.
The first Exeter native to have spotted Halley’s comet in 1910 was Ambrose Swasey. Then living in Cleveland, Ohio, Swasey and his partner Worchester Warner, were engaged in the telescope business. They lived in side-by-side houses with an observatory between them. The News-Letter was excited to announce in early March that “the much heralded and long looked for phenomenon was seen through the telescope at the Warner & Swasey observatory, 7720 Euclid Ave, on the evening of February 7.” It wasn’t much to see at that early stage – “of no particular shape, neither square nor round, it looked not unlike a fleecy cloud passing through the upper air.” Updates on the comet’s progress were published nearly weekly. In late March the best dates for viewing were announced under the advice of Professor David Todd of Amherst College. “On May 18 the comet will pass over the sun, and we shall probably plunge into the streaming tail, though no sensational consequences are to be feared. From May 20 to May 25 a splendid spectacle will be offered by the comet, this time in the northwest. It will probably not be quite so brilliant as ‘Comet 1910 A’ was at its best, but it may be hoped that the weather will be more favorable for a display.” Indeed, when Halley’s did arrive, it was a bit of a let-down for those who had seen Comet A. Even though there were still those who were worried about deadly comet tail gasses (some of whom implored their physicians to provide them with “comet pills” or gas masks to ward off the effects), and lingering superstitions of earthquakes, the News-Letter calmly headlined, “Earth Passes Through Comet’s Tail” to announce no known disasters. When Halley’s reappeared in 1986, countless ‘second-timers’ recalled seeing it the first time while standing out in the snow. There was no snow on the ground when Halley’s appeared in May – they were recalling the earlier comet.
If Helen and Marion’s enthusiasm diminished, you couldn’t tell. Both girls eagerly peered into the night sky to take a look. “Saw a fine view of Halley’s comet in west,” Marion noted on May 26th – a day so fair she also mentioned that “we put the screens on today.” Helen’s entry included an illustration. “Its tail was very long. It stretched nearly half way up to Venus.” The year with two comets had been very exciting indeed.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Image: 12-year-old Helen Tufts recorded seeing Halley’s Comet in her diary.