Journey With the Comet

by Dana Wayne Haley

  “I breathed a sigh of relief when the children came home from school today,” she told Murdock that night.

  “Why worry about such a little thing, Maggie?” he said. “It’s not like they were going to war; it was just school.”

  “I know, Murdy” she said. “I’m such a worrywart! I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  “You’re a mother,” is all he said.

  Margaret just nodded and smiled.

  —1—

  The first-quarter of 3rd grade went well for Leona. Not only was she a good student who studied hard to earn four A’s and one B, but she was well liked by the other kids. She could hardly wait for school to let out on the day she received her first report card from Miss Hutchinson, so she could rush home and show it to her mother. When three o’clock finally came the excited 3rd-grader ran out the school door and began walking proudly down Ohio Street with her sister, all the while imagining the beautiful heart-warming smile she would see on her mother’s face when she handed the report card to her. It was hard for Leona to conceive of a more beautiful sight on that mid-October day, until, that is, she turned into her driveway and glanced up to see the brilliant multicolored trees that appeared in front of her that brisk fall day.

  Many times in recent days Leona had marveled at the colorful foliage that every fall turns Maine’s countryside into a living painting, but the 8-year-old never appreciated its beauty as much as she did that afternoon. Maybe it was the anticipation of her mother’s beaming face that made the sight seem so spectacular to Leona on this particular day. Or maybe it was just the sight of the sunlight reflecting off the brilliant red, yellow, and orange leaves that were magnificently contrasted against the bright-blue sky; as usual, a sky abundantly sprinkled with puffy white clouds. Yes, maybe that’s what made the scenery appear more majestic than ever before.

  No matter. When she saw that sight and then turned to see her mother up ahead, readying her once beautiful flower garden for the winter, Leona knew she would be hard pressed to ever experience a more wonderful feeling. And Margaret too was full of bliss when she saw her little girl come running home from school with that first report card in hand.

  “Mama! Look! Look! I got my report card today,” the excited girl shouted.

  “Well, I’ll be!” her mother said after dropping her garden gloves to the ground and opening the report card.

  “Congratulations, young lady. I think this calls for a celebration. When your father comes home from work we’ll all have some homemade apple pie. I baked it fresh this afternoon; and I churned two gallons of vanilla ice cream this morning too, just for you children to enjoy. It hasn’t been in the icebox that long, so it may be a little sloppy, but it should be cold enough to eat now.”

  Margaret always made ice cream and apple pie on the day that she knew her kids would be bringing report cards home. She hoped those treats would be used in celebration, as was the case this time with Leona. But if not, she had the dessert at the ready to help sooth the pain, or maybe the shame her children might feel if their grades were less than uplifting. Fortunately, the latter situation never arose. To date, her children were all remarkably studious and excelled in their studies, and if there was anything that pleased Margaret it was that her children were good students; even Lillian, who might have had trouble getting out of bed, but was not one you would call lazy once she did.

  In Leona’s case, being so studious at such an early age made a good impression on her teacher. Because of that, plus being naturally a little shy, reasonably polite, and unquestionably cute, it didn’t take the little girl very long to win Miss Hutchinson’s praise and in turn become one of the teacher’s pets. That certainly pleased Leona because not having to worry about being picked on by a “mean teacher” was a great relief to the 3rd-grader. She had seen enough of that in Bangor, even though it was her friends and not her who had been picked on.

  In addition to her teacher’s kindness, the added bonus of being able to watch others much older than herself interact in the tiny classroom was most helpful to Leona in adjusting to life outside of the safe environs of her home. That’s when she started to really enjoy school, but more importantly when she started to lose her innate shyness and to gain confidence in her own abilities.

  In being exposed to children of all ages and abilities in the one-room schoolhouse, and to the advanced subjects that Miss Hutchinson taught them, it wasn’t long before Leona was learning things way beyond her grade level, things she had never even dreamed possible, even with her overly active imagination or in her most realistic dreams. And it was at least partly because of the thing she had once foolishly feared most: school. But more profoundly it was because of her new friend and mentor: Miss Hutchinson.

  Chapter 27

  The Sun’s Captives

  It was on a Wednesday in late November of 1918, the day before Thanksgiving, when Leona taught her classmates about the significance of that day, just as she had assured the teacher she would. This Thanksgiving was especially significant to Leona because of two very special reasons. The first being that the Red Sox had won the World Series in October by beating the Chicago Cubs, and she had never seen her father as ecstatic as he was about that.

  “And he made no bones about it either,” Leona laughingly told Jill that very morning. “All he could talk about during the World Series was Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth. He’s a Red Sox pitcher who had a 13-and-7 record and only allowed 2 runs per game; and even though he’s a pitcher he led the league with 11 homers and hit 300. That’s all Papa could talk about, so I’ll probably never forget those numbers for as long as I live. In fact, I’ll probably forget my name before I’d forget them.”

  Despite the Red Sox success, the most important reason that Thanksgiving was so special to Leona this year was because she saw how happy her parents were that World War I was finally over. The U.S. had officially declared war on Germany on April 6th, 1917, and it had ended in victory on November 11th of this year, nineteen months later.

  Leona had taught her ‘Thanksgiving lesson’ in the morning, and late that afternoon she was sitting at her desk daydreaming about the coming days off, ones that she looked forward to with great anticipation. Not that she didn’t enjoy her first taste of school in Glenburn, because she certainly did, but even she enjoyed the deserved time off provided by weekends and holidays. And besides, the Thanksgiving holiday was one of her most favorite times, not only because she had four fun days off to enjoy the festive holiday, but most of all because of the always-delicious Thanksgiving Day dinner her mother dutifully prepared. The coming feast was all Leona could think about on that long-awaited November day. That is, until Miss Hutchinson began teaching the 6th-grade children about the Universe; and about the difference between stars, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids. When she began the lesson, Leona was listening too, and though she was tempted to ask Miss Hutchinson questions, she stopped herself since only the 6th-grade students were allowed to do that. The teacher had worked very hard the previous night preparing her lesson, staying up long past one o’clock reading portions of two books she kept in her personal library. One was titled The Universe, and the other, The Sun’s Captives.

  “Now, students, the Sun and the eight planets that circle it are referred to as the Solar System,” the teacher began. “And our Solar System is part of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is in turn part of the Universe. The Universe contains all the galaxies, everything in the heavens. The Milky Way Galaxy not only consists of our solar system, but it also consists of many other stars, planets and other heavenly objects: such as, moons, asteroids and comets. “Can anyone tell me what planet we are living on?” the teacher asked.

  “Earth,” Johnny Applebee, one of Arlene’s 6th-grade classmates said.

  “Correct, Johnny. Now, we all know that the planet Earth makes one complete orbit around the Sun in roughly 365 days, and that is what astronomers refer
to as one Earth Year. And, of course, a day is the time it takes the Earth to make one full rotation on its axis. Since a year is actually a little more than 365 days, then every fourth year a day has to be added to the calendar to account for that difference. Can anyone tell me what day that is, and what we call a year with 366 days?”

  “It’s February 29th,” Arlene said, “and we call it a Leap Year.”

  “That’s right!” Miss Hutchinson exclaimed. “Now, as I said, the Earth is one of eight known planets that circle the Sun. Starting with the closest to the Sun, the planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Earth is 93-million miles from the Sun, while Mercury, the closest, is roughly 30-million miles from it; and Neptune, the most distant, is approximately 4,000-million miles away.

  As she spoke, the teacher wrote the first letter of each planet on the blackboard.

  “A good way to remember the order of the planets in relation to the Sun is to make yourself a memorable sentence using this mnemonic: MVEMJSUN. I can remember this sentence the best: My Very Eyes Might Just See Under Nine planets. As you see, the first letter in the words of this sentence corresponds to the first letter of the respective planet. Since Mercury and Mars have the same first letter in their names, you’ll just have to remember that Mercury is closest to the Sun. I remember it because liquid mercury is used in thermometers, which are used to measure temperature; and being so close to the Sun, obviously the planet Mercury has a very high temperature. Now, does anyone recognize any words in this mnemonic?”

  “I do,” Arlene said. “It contains the word sun.”

  “That’s good, Arlene. The last three letters spell SUN; and, if you remember that, it should help you remember that Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are the most distant planets. Now let’s talk about the size of the Sun and its planets. The Sun’s diameter is 870,000-miles and is over 100-times larger than the Earth, which is roughly 8,000-miles in diameter. The Moon’s diameter on the other hand is only about 2,000-miles, or about one-fourth that of the Earth. Jupiter is the largest of the planets; its diameter is over 10-times-greater than Earth’s. While Mercury is the smallest with a diameter of only 3,000-miles. If it will help you, you can make up your own mnemonic aide to remember the relative sizes of the planets. The mnemonic for decreasing size is JSUNEVMM. If you remember that Jupiter is the largest planet, then the next three largest planets spell out the word SUN; and a good way to remember that Jupiter is the largest is to think of jumbo, a word with the same initial, which means very large.

  “As for the four smallest planets, just remember that the Earth is the largest, or the first, in the next bunch, and that the final four spell out EVMM. It will help if you remember that the four planets closest to the Sun are also the four smallest planets. And the smallest planets—Mercury and Mars—start with the same letter as the word miniature, which means very small. And again you have to remember that Mars is bigger than Mercury. That leaves Venus; and obviously it is smaller than the Earth and larger than Mars. Now. There is one planet that is very unique: Saturn. Does anyone know what is so special about it? No? Well, the reason Saturn is so unique is because it has a ring around it. No one knows for sure what the ring is made of, but I’m sure some day they will.”

  “Does the ring mean that Saturn is engaged?” Beverly, a wisecracking 8th-grader asked.

  “I—really—don’t—think—so, Beverly,” Miss Hutchinson said, shaking her head while trying to repress a smile. “But I’m pleased to see that you are finally engaged in our little discussion. It’s too bad you weren’t more engaged three years ago; maybe then you wouldn’t have had to repeat 6th grade.”

  The classroom exploded into thunderous laughter, and a half-minute later she continued.

  —1—

  “Now, let’s get back to more mundane things: like the Universe!” the teacher said in a mildly sarcastic tone. “Next, we’ll learn the length of each planet’s year.”

  “I thought you said a year is 365 days, Miss Hutchinson,” one student said.

  “That’s right, Peter; if you’re talking only about the Earth. But all 8 planets orbit the Sun with very different periods; and each is called a year. Mercury, being the closest to the Sun, has the shortest orbital period; its year is equivalent to 88 Earth days. Whereas Neptune’s year is the longest, being equivalent to 165 Earth years. That’s quite a difference, isn’t it? It’s well over a six-hundred-to-one difference in orbital periods. The four largest planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—are believed by some to be made up of mostly gases. And the next four in size—Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury—consist mostly of solid materials, such as rocks, soil, and other minerals.

  “Now, I’ll give you one last thing to remember about the Solar System. There is something we call an Asteroid Belt that separates the large gaseous planets from the other smaller planets. So can anyone tell me which planets it lies between?

  “Arlene?” the teacher said, upon seeing a raised hand.

  “Mars and Jupiter?” Arlene replied.

  “That’s right. I’m glad you’re paying attention. I hope the rest of you are too. Now, the Asteroid Belt is a very large field of rocks, of all shapes and sizes. The largest asteroid is called Ceres and the brightest one is called Vesta. In fact, Vesta can even be seen with the naked eye.”

  “I didn’t know eyes wore clothes, Miss Hutchinson?” Beverly spoke up. Everyone laughed, except for the teacher.

  “That’s enough, Beverly. I’m trying to teach a lesson here. There’s a time for being funny and a time to be quiet. It’s time for you to be quiet.”

  “Yes, Miss Hutchinson,” the wisecracking 8th-grader said.

  “Now, what was I talking about before I was so rudely interrupted? Oh yes, the Asteroid Belt. The asteroids in that belt obviously orbit the Sun, just like the planets do. And that leads into the subject of asteroids, meteors and comets. First, comets are different from asteroids in that they are made up mostly of ice, gas and dust, not solid minerals, or rocks, like asteroids are. In fact, that’s why comets are easier to see.”

  “Why is that, Miss Hutchinson?” Arlene asked. “Are comets much bigger than asteroids?”

  “Not always, Arlene,” the teacher replied. “There are two reasons that they are more visible. One reason is that sunshine reflects much better off ice, gas, and dust, than it does off rock. In fact, sunlight makes some gases appear to glow. So a comet that is equal to the size of an asteroid would appear much brighter to the eye than the asteroid. And the second thing that makes a comet more visible is that, as comets get closer to the Sun, more of their ice melts and becomes gas. And the sun-heated gas also expands to make the comet appear much larger when sunlight reflects off it.”

  “Miss Hutchinson, do you mean a comet is made of gas, like that used in automobiles?” Billy Smith, one of the more inquisitive 6th-graders, asked.

  “No, Billy. According to this astronomy book, comets are made up of many types of gases; including water vapor, or, as we call it: steam.”

  “I didn’t know that steam was a gas,” Billy responded. “Steam doesn’t burn like gas.”

  “Not all gases burn, Billy,” the teacher explained. “When liquids are heated to a hot enough temperature, they turn into gas, just like water does when it’s heated to 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Similarly, when liquids are cooled to a low enough temperature they turn into a solid object, like water turns to ice when it reaches 32 degrees Fahrenheit. So, you see, when comets are far away from the Sun they are so cold that they freeze solid. And when they get close enough to the Sun they become extremely hot and are partly gaseous. And not only do those gases expand, but they form a long gas tail when the comet passes near the Sun.”

  “How do they do that?” Billy asked.

  “I’ll try my best to explain it from what I have read,” Miss Hutchinson said. “It seems, some theorize, that the sun emits p
articles called the solar wind which collides with and pushes against the comet’s gas particles so that it forms a tail that points away from the Sun. The solar wind also pushes on the comet’s dust particles, but it doesn’t get pushed as far. Thus the dust forms a separate tail that trails behind the comet, and is curved slightly away from its path due to the solar wind’s effect. And, depending on the position of the comet to the Sun, its two tails are sometimes visible. Now, isn’t that interesting? Any questions?”

  “I have one,” Arlene said. “You said the planets circles the Sun? How do they do that?”

  “They do it because the Sun has a very strong pull on them, and....”

  “I don’t understand, Miss Hutchinson. How can the Sun pull on anything when there is nothing but space between it and the other objects?”

  “Remember what I told you earlier, Arlene: all the planets, asteroids and comets in our solar system circle the Sun. Well, they circle the Sun due to a force called gravity. Now, does anyone know what gravity is?”

  Arlene waited for a while and, when no one else spoke up, she did.

  “I’ve heard of gravity before, Miss Hutchinson, but I’m not exactly sure what it is.”

  “Then I’ll explain it to you students, the best I can. Gravity is what keeps us here on Earth. An Englishman—Sir Isaac Newton—was the first to discover gravity when he noticed an apple fall from a tree. He was a very smart mathematician who eventually figured out that objects have an attraction to each other, and that the reason the apple fell down, rather than up, was because of this planet’s huge attraction. He surmised that the Earth actually pulled the apple down toward itself, and that it pulls on everything that comes near it. But he also theorized that the larger the mass of the objects and the closer the objects are to one another, the greater they pull on each other. So if gravity didn’t exist, then we would all go flying away from Earth whenever we jumped up in the air; instead, gravity pulls us back to Earth. And that’s why objects in the sky circle the Sun. The Sun’s gravity, or pull, keeps those objects flying around it. You might say: it won’t let them escape its pull.”