...gradually disappears. The appearance of comets followed by these trains of light, has for a long time terrified mankind, always agitated by extraordinary...which the causes are unknown. The light of science has dispelled these vain fears ; no longer do we look upon the approach of comets as a herald of war or...

...gradually disappears. The appearance of comets followed by these trains of light, has for a long time terrified mankind, always agitated by extraordinary...which the causes are unknown. The light of science has dispelled these vain fears ; no longer do we look upon the approach of comets as a herald of war or...

...on several occasions without having been perceived."4 Laplace praised "the light of science [that] has dissipated the vain terrors which comets, eclipses, and many other phenomena inspired in the ages of ignorance."1 Yet Laplace commented, "To the terrors which the apparition of...

...student of the solar system, Laplace, whom we frequently encounter in these pages, commented in 1796 that the appearance of comets, followed by these long trains...events of which the causes are unknown. The light of seienee has dissipated the vain terrors that comets, eclipses, and many other phenomena inspired in...

...have an importance that outweighs their small numbers [46]. l0.3 Comets Laplace commented in 1796 that "the appearance of comets, followed by these long...The light of science has dissipated the vain terrors that comets, eclipses, and many other phenomena inspired in the ages of ignorance" [47]. However, a...

...brushed Earth in 1910, carrying its "deadly" cyanogen.) Laplace praised "the light of science [that] has dissipated the vain terrors which comets, eclipses, and many other phenomena inspired in the ages of ignorance."34 He also argued that, although possible, collisions with comets...