Abstract
THE SOUTHERN COMET.—Dr. Gould, Director of the Observatory at Cordoba, has addressed to Prof. Peters of Kiel an interesting letter with observations of the great southern comet. The tail was seen at Cordoba on January 31. Two evenings later, when Dr. Gould first perceived it, the length was certainly 35°. Careful drawings of its position amongst the stars were made independently by two observers until February 14, after which it had not been distinguishable; it was then not less than 37° in length, but was seen with difficulty, and was scarcely brighter near the head than at its extremity. Even at greatest brilliancy about February 7, its light was nowhere superior to that of the Milky Way in Taurus. Dr. Gould states that from the first no nucleus had been discernible in the telescope, the head always appearing “cloud-like and filmy, and elongated in the direction of the tail, which it did not very much surpass in brilliancy;” indeed “the inordinate length of the tail and the great faintness of both tail and head” were very remarkable features in the appearance of the comet. Observations for position were obtained on six evenings between February 6 and 15, which have enabled Dr. Gould to claim priority in pointing out the probable identity of this comet with the great comet of 1843. Calculating from the observations on February 6, 9, and 12, he deduced the following first approximation to the elements:—
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 21, 575 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021575a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021575a0