418 Mr. J. R. Hind on the Elements of 



comet in tiiis year (no doubt the same as the above). On day 

 Y-mao of fourth moon (May 31), it was on the confines of 

 Tse-kong (the tail of Draco) : it pointed to Ou-ti-tso (/SLeonis), 

 and moved slowly towards the south-east. The colour was a 

 pale red. On day Kia-tse, fifth moon (June 9), it stopped to 

 the north of C/mng-tai («, x Ursre Majoris) and disappeared. 



Comet of 770. — In the fifth year of the period Ta-lii fourth 

 moon, day Ki-ouei (May 26), a comet appeared in the con- 

 stellation Auriga: it had a luminous train 30° in length. On 

 day Ki-mao^ fifth moon (June 15), the comet was seen in the 

 north. On day Kouei-ouei (June 19) it moved towards the 

 east; it^approached the star in the middle oS. Pa-ko (8, ^, ^, A-, 

 i Aurigae and the small neighbouring stars of Camelopardalis). 

 On day Kouei-mao^ sixth moon (July 9), it was at 2° of San- 

 koung (stars in Asterion, under >j Ursse Majoris). On the 

 25th of the same month it disappeared. 



My rough parabolic elements are : — 

 Perihelion passage 770. June Q'Q. Greenwich mean time. Julian style. 



Longitude of perihelion 2lr;, . rTTn 



LoniitudeufLscendingnode ... 89 / ^^'1"^"°'' °^ ^^O. 



Inclination of the orbit 60 



Ji.pg.4i8t;aqce in perihelion 9*7801 



Motion retrograde. 



These' elements very much resemble those computed by 

 Pingre for a comet in 1299, and, with the exception of the 

 perihelion distance, they bear considerable analogy to those of 

 the comet which passed the perihelion in December 1S18. 



The Comet of 1385 was discovered in China by the astro- 

 nomers of the Ming dynasty, on October 23 (period Houng- 

 •wou, eighteenth year, ninth moon, day Wou-yn) : it was then 

 on the borders of Thai-wei (a constellation of stars in Leo and 

 Virgo, surrounding /3 Leonis) ; it touched /3 Virginis, and left 

 Thai-iioei by what the Chinese termed the "great gate," i.e. 

 between /3 and >j Virginis. On day Y-ijeou (October 30) it 

 entered the division Y (commencing at aCrateris): the tail 

 was about 10° long. On day Kcng-i/n of tenth moon (Nov. 4), 

 the comet touched the group Kiun-men (^ Hydrse, &c.) : the 

 tail swept Thien-miao (the stars in Pixis Nautica). From this 

 description I have deduced an orbit, which may perhaps serve 

 to recognise the comet if it should reappear. 

 Perihelion passage 1385. Oct. 16*26. Greenwich mean time. Julian style. 



O II 



Longitude of perihelion 101 47"! p • n^o- 



Longitude of ascending node... 268 31 /^q"'"^'' ^^ J-^^'^' 



Inclination to ecliptic 52 15 



Log. perihelion distance 9*8886 



Motion retrograde. 



