ASTRONOMY. 383 



Comets 0/1883.*— The great comet of 188l> (1882 11), whicli excited 

 so much interest in the latter part of the year 1882, was visible to tlie 

 naked eye till February, 1883, and with the telescope was followed, in 

 the southern hemisphere, to the middle of the year, the last accurate 

 observation being on May 26, at Cordoba. The comet was seen again 

 on June 1 at the same place, but was too faint to admit of a satisfactory 

 determination of its position. It was then at a distance of 5-1 from the 

 sun and 4*4 from the earth. In addition to this comet, two others were 

 visible during the year, 1883 I and 1884 I ; and a comet discovered on 

 January 7, 1884, was found to have passed perihelion on December 25, 

 1883, and is accordingly catalogued with the comets of the latter year. 

 A comet was also reported as Comet c, 1883, on September 11, but it 

 proved to be a nebula; and a second comet, with a tail 2° or 3° long, 

 was reported as seen before sunrise at Tasmania on the mornings of 

 December 25 and 27, 1883. Nothing more is known of it. Two other 

 comets have passed perihelion during the year, but, owing to unfavora- 

 ble circumstances, have not been seen — D'Arrest's comet on Januarj^ 13, 

 1883, and Tempel's comet of 1873, on November 20. 



Comet 1883 I : Discovered February 23, by W. R. Brooks of 



= Comet a I8t)3. Phelps, N. Y., and on the same day, a few hours 



= Swift-Brooks Comet, j^ter, by Swift, at Rochester. The comet had 

 already passed perihelion (on February 18). Its orbit does not resem- 

 ble any previously computed, nor does it show any signs of eccentricity. 

 The spectrum was of the ordinary three-band type. 



Comet 1883 II : i This comet was discovered by Ross, an amateur 

 = Comet a 1884. ; observer, at Elsternwick, near Melbourne, Australia, 

 = Ross's Comet. | ^j^ January 7, 1884. The spectrum showed faintly 

 the three hydrocarbon lines. A careful discussion of the orbit has 

 lately been made by Mr. Bryant. The observations are few and not 

 very satisfactory, and Mr. Bryant finally based his results on Tebbutt's 

 observations alone. Two sets of elements were derived ; one gave a 

 period of eighty- seven years, and the other ninety-four years, but both 

 orbits satisfy the observations. 



Comets of 1884. — Of the five comets visible during the year, four were 

 periodic — two of these of short period, and observed apparently for the 

 first time at this return. The first comet discovered during the year 

 has just been described as Comet 1883 II. The second discovery was 

 by Barnard on July 16, and the third by Wolf, on Se])tember 17. To 

 these we add Encke's Comet, 1885 I, detected by Tempel, at Arcetri, on 

 December 13, and the Pons-Brooks Comet, which passed perihelion on 

 January 25. To complete the list we should mention a suspected comet 

 to which some interest is attached : A faint nebulous object was found 



* This section is purxjosely made to include the comets of 1883, 1884, and 1885, in or- 

 der to complete former records. 



