Abstract
THE SOUTHERN COMET.—Dr. B. A. Gould, Director of the Observatory at Cordoba, publishes the results of hasty observations of the head of the southern comet on the evening of February 4. It appeared “like a coarse, ill-defined mass of dull light 2′ or 3′ in diameter, and without visible nucleus.” Two determinations of position were made by placing it in the middle of the field of the large equatorial and taking the readings of the circles. Thus Dr. Gould obtained the following place after correcting for refraction, and it should be mentioned that at the second observation the comet's altitude was less than 2°42′; right ascension, 22h. 24m. 10s.; declination, - 31°29′.1 at 5h. 27m. 55s. Cordoba sidereal time, which corresponds to February 4 at 12h. 46m. 25s. Greenwich mean time. Mr. Finlay's orbit, which appeared in this column last week, gives the right ascension greater by 1°29′ and the declination further south by 21′; though the Cordoba observation is called a rough one, under the circumstances it will hardly be liable to such errors, and maybe at least comparable in accuracy with the approximate positions received from the Royal Observatory at the Cape. If we combine it with the Cape places on February 10 and 15 for the determination of the orbit, the following remarkable elements result—we say remarkable from their being almost identical with the elements of the grand comet of 1843, as will be seen from the orbit annexed:—
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 21, 525–526 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021525a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021525a0