ASTRONOMY, 387 



ber 2, describes the comet as of about the 9lh magnitude, with circular 

 nebulosity 2' in diameter, some central condensation, and no tail. It 

 changed very little from this during the few weeks it was visible. 

 According to Dr. H. Oppenheim's orbit, perihelion was passed on 

 August 10, and the comet steadily decreased in brightness from the 

 time of discovery. The nearest approach to the earth seems to have 

 been about September 25. 



Comet 1885 IV : This comet, originally discovered by M^chain in 

 = Comet 6 1885. 1790, and rediscovered by Tuttle in 1858, was found 

 = Tattle's Comet, ^t this return by Perrotin and Oharlois at the Nice 

 = c 1 18'8 1 Observatory on August 8, and was observed on each 

 = Comet 1871 III. of the following days to August 13, by Oharlois. 



Owing to the faiutness of the comet and its slight 



elevation above the eastern horizon at sunrise, observation was possi- 

 ble for only ten or fifteen minutes. M. Oharlois describes the comet 

 as a white spot, about 2' in diameter, without any central con- 

 densation. On August 10, with exceptionally good atmospheric condi- 

 tions, he thought the nebulosity was elongated in the direction of the 

 meridian. 



Herr Eahts, of Koenigsberg, has taken up the work of Tischler, and 

 has deduced an orbit from the observations of 1853 and 1871-'72, with 

 perturbations by Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, JujHter, Saturn, 

 and Uranus, to July 11, 1885. He obtains a period of revolution of 

 13-76 years, with perihelion passage on September 11, 1885. 

 Comet 1885 V : Discovered by Brooks on December 26, 1885, or 

 =Comet/l885. more than three weeks after the two folio winpf 

 .^Brooks's Comet, comets. It was also, independently, discovered by 

 Barnard on the evening of December "27, making the third comet 

 found by Barnard in 1885, and the second by Brooks. It is described 

 as circular, about 3' in diameter, equivalent to a star of the 9th mag- 

 nitude, and with a strong, eccentrically placed condensation. The 

 provisional elements comj^uted by Chandler and Wendell show that the 

 comet is growing fainter, having passed perihelion on o^Tovember 29. 



Comet 1886. .. (Fabry): 

 = Comet d 1885. 

 = Fabry's Comet. 



Discovered on December 1, 1885, by M. 

 Fabry, a student at the Paris Observatory, 

 where he had been engaged for about three 

 months in a search for new comets, with the equatorial coud^. At the 

 time of discovery the comet presented the appearance of a faint round 

 nebulosity (12th magnitude) about V in diameter, with a small, central, 

 stellar nucleus. On December 9 it was observed to be elongated in the 

 position angle of 87°. According to a calculation of its orbit made by 

 M. Lebeuf, perihelion passage occurs on April 5, 1886. The distance 

 from the Earth decreases till the end of April, when the theoretical 

 brightness will be nearly 500 times as great as on the date of dis- 

 covery. 



