150 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



not able to confirm liis discovery till January 20. From the 22d to the 

 25th the comet was a beautiful object to the naked eye — a narrow, 

 straight, sharply defi'ned, graceful tail, over 40 degrees long, shining 

 with a soft starry light against the dark sky, beginning, apparently, 

 without a head, and gradually wideniug and fading as it extended up- 

 wards. At the Cape of Good Hope it was observed from January 22 

 to 28, the long, straight tail recalling the comet of February, 1880. The 

 Eevista do observatorio for February, published by Dr. Cruls at IJio 

 Janeiro, gives a sketch of the comet made on Januar^^ 24. The nucleus 

 was then somewhere beyond the bright star (x Gruis, invisible in (he 

 haze of the horizon, and the tail stretched up beyond /i Ilydrae, a nar- 

 row ribbon 52 degrees in length and about half a degree in width. As 

 far as we have been able to learn the comet was not seen at all in tlie 

 northern hemisphere, and was not followed in the southern hemisphere 

 beyond the end of January. 



Unfortunately, also, no well defined nucleus, or even the slightest 

 condensation as a point of observation could be made out at any of the 

 observatories at which the couiet was visible, and from the rough ob- 

 servations which were obtained it is impossible to determine the orbit 

 with any degree of precision. The earlier dispatches suggested the 

 identity of the new comet with the great comet of 1880, apparently on 

 the ground of a general similarity of the circumstances of the apparition, 

 and on the fact that the line of sight nearly intersected the orbit of the 

 comet of 1880; but Mr. Chandler, who has made a critical discussion of 

 all the observations obtained, has been unable to reconcile them with an 

 orbit similar to that of the group of great comets of 1843, 1880, and 1882; 

 the orbit that he obtains bears a closer resemblance, in fact, to those of 

 the comets of 1680 and 1G89. The unavoidable uncertainty in the ob- 

 servations must, however, leave the question of identity unsettled. 

 The extremely small perihelion distance is worthy of notice, and may, 

 perhaps, account for the lack of nucleus. Indeed, if we accept the orl)it 

 computed by Dr. Oppeuheim (q=0.0047), the comet must have ploughed 

 through the surface of the sun itself. 

 Comet 1887 II : Discovered by W. E. Brooks, at Phelps, New York, 



= Comet & 1887. q^ ^]^q evening of January 22, 1887, in the constella- 

 tion Draco. In the early i>art of February it reached its greatest north- 

 ern declination, 80°, then went south again, and was last observed 

 l)y Plummer at Orwell Park, on April 23. From the time of discovery 

 it increased gradually in brightness till about the middle of February, 

 when it was described as a bright telescopic object about 3' in diam- 

 eter with well marked central condensation of the tenth magnitude. 

 According to the yet unfinished investigation of Dr. Stechert the orbit 

 shows a well-marked ellipticity. 



Discovered by Barnard at Nashville on the night 

 of February IG, 1887, in 8'' right ascension, and 15° 



Comet 1887 III : 



= Comet d 1887. 



south declination, a very faint nebulous object with rapid motion to- 



