SECTION III - REMARKS ON THE ORIGIN OF COMETS

Summary

Have all the known comets of the solar world always belonged to it?–Probable modification of their original orbits through the planetary perturbations–Cause of the gradual diminution of the periods of certain comets.

The origin of comets is a question equally interesting and difficult.

On comparing all the orbits that have been calculated we find that they pass by almost imperceptible gradations from comets of short period to comets of periods of immense length, and thence to others the major axes of which are of infinite dimensions. If we suppose the latter to be strangers to our solar system, have the former, we may ask, always formed a part of it? In which case why should periodical comets in the elements of their orbits and their physical constitution differ so essentially from planets? Why do they cut the plane of the ecliptic at all inclinations, and why are their movements sometimes direct and sometimes retrograde? Why are their masses so small, and why do they exhibit such vaporous appearances, such rapid changes of aspect, and the phenomenon of tails?

On the other hand, if comets are all of extra-solar origin, why have not all cometary orbits a major axis equal at least to the radius of the sphere of the sun's activity?

The reply to the first questions would be difficult on the hypothesis of comets having the same origin as the planets.