156 



Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



had such unaccountable changes. On the 7th it was a brilliant comet, 

 with a tail of from 1 to 2, on the 12th from 2 to 3, on the 18th 

 at least 3, and by the 26th it had sunk to a tailless and almost un- 

 discoverable star. This excessively rapid rise and diminution of 

 splendour is, to the best of my knowledge, a novelty in astronomy, 

 and I presume must arise from some peculiarity in the comet's path 

 round the sun, relative to that of the earth. It is therefore to be re- 

 gretted that the weather has been so unfavourable as to preclude our 

 daily tracing its successive and perhaps singular gradations. 



I should now imagine this body must have passed its perihelion for 

 some time, probably before my second or even my first observation. 

 In this case the greater apparent length of its tail on the 18th may 

 have been owing to its greater elevation above the plane of the eclip- 

 tic. However, I am anxious to know what has been seen of this body 

 on the Continent; they have most likely had better opportunities of 

 seeing it further south than we have had. JOHN HERAPATH. 



The following is from The Times of Jan. 29: 



" It was observed here on Wednesday and this mornings. On 

 the former occasion, it might, by a person knowing well where to 

 look for it, be with difficulty detected by the unassisted eye ; this 

 morning, certainly not. In either instance, under very slight illu- 

 mination of the field, it became invisible. 



" At 14 1 ' 16 m 38 s sidereal time of Tuesday the 25th, its right 

 ascension was 16" 14> m 46 s and T^ths ; and its southern declination 

 was 6 36 m and 6 s ; whilst at 14" 31 m 16 s and Aths, sidereal time 

 of yesterday, the 27th, its right ascension was 16" 4 m 6 s and -frihs ; 

 and its southern declination 5 45 m and 34- s . Hence its daily dimi- 

 nution of right ascension, in time, is about 5 m S and of southern 

 declination about 25 m 15 s . J. S." 



Observatory, Kensington, Jan. 28, 1831. 



LUNAR OCCULTATIONS. 



Occupations of Planets and Jixed Stars by the Moon, in February 

 1831. Computed for Greenwich, by THOMAS HENDERSON, Esq. ; 

 and circulated by the Astronomical Society. 



LIST 



