Abstract
THE SOUTHERN COMET.—There appears now to be no reasonable doubt that the comet which has attracted so much attention in the southern hemisphere is identical with the great comet which was observed in almost all parts of the habitable world in March, 1843. Dr. Gould succeeded in obtaining observations for position at Cordoba up to the evening of February 19, though the head was then only recognised “as a scarcely perceptible whiteness in the field of the large equatorial of 28½ centimetres aperture.” On the following evening it was not distinguishable, though having a good ephemeris, the observers knew that it must be in the field of the telescope, which fully accounts for the comet having been unsuccessfully sought with large instruments in this hemisphere, amongst others with Mr. Common's powerful reflector at Ealing. Dr. Gould publishes the following parabolic elements founded upon his observations of February 6, 12, and 18; an orbit deduced by Mr. Hind from the Cordoba places of February 6, 9, and 14, which is annexed, will be seen to differ in no material degree from Dr. Gould's. The longitudes are for 1880.0.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 21, 597–598 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021597a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021597a0