116 



night it occurred to me after leaving* the observatory that the 

 axis of the tail was not exactly in the direction of the comet's 

 radius vector, and to-night I found its angle of position at 

 13h. 35m. sidereal time to be 96*7°. At this time the 

 position of the sun and comet were — 



The sun R.A. 42° 54'— N.P.D. 73° 33'. 



The comet... R.A. 144° 50' — N.P.D. 48° 43'. 

 From these data we find that the angle of position of a pro- 

 longation of the comet's radius vector was 69'9°. The 

 apparent deviation of the axis of the tail was therefore 26*8° in 

 the direction of the comet's motion. 



May 7th. At 12h. (5.M.T. the comet appeared to the 

 naked eye to be nearly equal to jul Leonis, and equal to, if not 

 brighter than, 38 Lyncis. 



May 9th. Three comparisons with Lai. 17,987 gave the 

 comet's apparent position at 9h. 57m. 30-5s., R.A. 9h. 3m. 

 23-25S. Dec. + 26° 11' 26-1". 



At 13h. 15m. sid. time the angle of position of the axis of 

 the tail was 103*2°. At this time the angle of position of the 

 comet's radius vector was 74*5°; the deviation therefore 

 amounted to 28*7°. 



With the 5-inch achromatic the tail appeared to be half a 

 degree in lengtn ; but with the 13-inch reflector it was fully one 

 degree, though fainter than when last observed, and still much 

 less in breadth than the diameter of the head. The averag^e 

 diameter of the head was about 20', but the nebulosity 

 extended farther on the south preceding side of the point of 

 greatest condensation than on the north preceding or north 

 following sides. There was still an entire absence of any 

 stellar nucleus. To the naked eye the comet appeared as a 

 star about equal in brightness to p. Leonis. 



May 14th. Notwithstanding the moonlight, the comet 

 was still visible to the naked eye, and in the 5-inch achromatic 

 with a power of 68 it was about 10' in diameter. The tail, 

 however, could not now be seen. 



