ASTRONOMY. 



299 



Mr. Chandler, using the above-mentioned Dnn-Eclit observation, 

 with one made at Washington, September 23, and Cambridge, United 

 States, September 30, found that a parabolic orbit gave considerable 

 deviations in the middle place, and deduced ths retbre the following 

 elliptic elements. The elliptic elements obtained by Professor Planta- 

 mour, for the comet of 1813, and by jVE. Meyer, for that of L88U, are 

 given for comparision: 



Per. pass , 



n 



Mean eq . 

 Log. q... 



Period . 



Comet 1843. Comet 1880 



355° 46' 48". 4 

 77 43 57 .9 

 143 1 31 .2 

 18S0. 

 7. 8:i!!4780 

 0.909117 

 7. 821G5 

 21.875 years. 



356^ 16' 43". 2 

 77 5:! 5) .9 

 143 7 46 .8 



1S80. 

 7. 7720l;95 

 0. 99,1407 



11. o8(;yo 



36. 91 Years. 



Comet 1882. 



Sept. 17, 1880, G. U. T. 

 340° 51' 58" 

 71 ,39 3 

 142 35 51 

 1882. 

 7.943410 

 ('. 907898 

 4. 17535 

 8. 532 years. 



A comparision of the orbit with whatever observations were avail- 

 able seemed to Mr. Chandler to confirm the periodical nature of the 

 comet, although further observations will be necessary to fix the period 

 with precision. 



The physical appearance of the comet which, like that of 1843, and 

 unlike that of 1880, showed at first a decided nucleus, together with 

 the above intimation of a i)eiiod very considerably grciiter than that 

 of the internal from 1830, January 27, the date of [)ei ihelion of the 

 1880 comet, suggest that perhaps the 18-13 comet suffered disintegration 

 when at its nearest approach, and that the 1880 comet was a portion ot 

 its less condensed material, whilst the body of the comet, with the prin- 

 cipal nucleus, suflering less retardation thau the separated pai-t, has 

 taken two and a half years longer to perform a revolution. The re- 

 markable discovery made by Professor Schmidt, of Athens, on October 

 8, of a second comet only 4° S. W. of the great comet, and having the 

 same motion, would seem rather to confirm this view. 



The spectroscopic observations of the comet have only been less in- 

 teresting than the questions of its orbit and identity. M. ThoUon, who 

 examined its spectrum on September 18, with a Steinheil spectroscope, 

 having one prism of 60° of dense flint, in conjunctiou with a horizontal 

 telescope of 9 inches aperture, into which the light of the comet was 

 reflected by means of a sidero-stat, gives the following description of it: 



"Although working in full daylight, the spectrum of the comet was 

 very bright; its leading characteristic was tjie presence of the bright 

 lines of sodium. We at once saw in the field of the instrument a tolera- 

 bly distinct spectrum, due to the scattered light of our atmosphere, in 

 which the dark Fraunhofer lines could be distinguished. Upon the 

 background of this spectrum a narrow and much more brilliant contin- 

 uous spectrum, given by the nucleus of the comet, was seen clearly de- 

 tached. Prom the height of the spectrum we estimated the apparent 



