comet of 1807 — 8. 373 



nitude, seen by the naked eye; the coma seems diminished 

 more than halt' of its appearance, on the 6th of December, and 

 the nucleus is equally surrounded by it* on all sides, without 

 any trace of tail, and so faint as very much to resemble some 

 of the nebulae. 



January 15th. Since the fifth instant the weather has been 

 unfavourable for viewing the heavens; this evening is very se- 

 rene and freezing; after a little search, I found the comet with 

 the telescope, between two small stars in Lacertas, the position 

 of the comet was again unfavourable for finding its relative 

 place by the micrometer of the reflecting telescope, but having 

 armed my small achromatic telescope with one of Cavallo's 

 pearl micrometers, I took the distance of the comet from two 

 small stars, the angle at the comet being nearly aright one, as 

 follows: 



At 7 h 0' Comet N. easterly from 5 Lacerta 1° 14' 12" of the 4th— 5th magnitude, 

 . 7 5 Comet S. easterly from 4 Lacerts 1 24 48 of the 5th magnitude. 



The uncertainty may be between one and two minutes. 



In the great telescope, the comet is yet sufficiently conspi- 

 cuous; the nucleus visible like a star of the eighth magnitude, 

 in our purest atmosphere, and the coma but little changed since 

 the 5th instant. 



January 17th. The last evening was cloudy and rainy, but 

 the weather cleared up mild this evening, which enabled me 

 to direct the same instrument with the pearl micrometer to the 

 place of the comet, which was very obscure, though I succeed- 

 ed in making the following observations : 



At "h 0' Comet S. easterly from 7 Lacertx 2° 2' 58" of the 4th magnitude, 

 7 5 Comet N. easterly from 5 Lacerlx 2 5 5., 



The uncertainty may be the same as on the 15th. 



February '25th. From the 17th of last month the weather 

 continued long unfavourable, and I despaired of again seeing 

 the comet; but thinking it of importance to get a view of 

 it once more, in a more distant part of its orbit, I search- 

 ed with great diligence and some anxiety, and at length found 

 an object which I had no doubt was the comet, situated be- 

 tween I Cassiopcaa and o Cassiopea?; but as the objects were 



