The more sensational newspapers of the day exploited Flammarion’s statement for all it was worth. The press however was onto a great story – the impending end of the world. Well known American astronomer Percival Lowell described the contents of the tail as “so rarefied as to be thinner than any vacuum.” The End of the World Predicted by Some Scientists and astronomers sought to reassure the public that there was no danger. In fact the gases and other matter in the tail of Halley’s Comet are dispersed to an almost unimaginable degree, and this was known in 1910. The basis for the fear that gripped much of American and other western societies was the announcement in February 1910 by the Yerkes Observatory in Chicago that the chemical compound cyanogen had been detected in the comet’s tail.įrench astronomer, Camille Flammarion was reported by the New York Times as saying that this gas “would impregnate that atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet.”įlammarion was well known and had popularised astronomy with his writings, but he had a vivid imagination and was seen to be somewhat eccentric. The comet’s course meant that Earth would pass through its tail of cosmic dust, a tail that stretched nearly 40 million kilometers and which some proclaimed would poison all the world’s life out of existence. In mid-May 1910 Halley’s Comet was at its closest point to Earth. In 1910 Halley’s Comet Came Close to Earth
There was real concern that the pass by Earth would be too close for comfort. On 20 April the comet reached perihelion, passed around the sun and started to make its way back towards the depths of the solar system. There was great anticipation, excitement and a considerable amount of apprehension as Halley’s Comet approached.
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