Dr. Olhen's Planet. 175 



fity feemed a little more luminous than the reft; but no fen- 

 fible nucleus was dirtinguifntd, nor any trace of a tail. After 

 that period the light of the comet always decreafed, becaufe 

 it was remo%ing from the earth. Its apparent motion in de- 

 clination, which was at firrt 2~ degrees towards the north, in 

 24 hours, was not more the laft day than 30 minutes. The 

 motion in right alcenfion amounted towards the end to no 

 more than 17 minutes in 24 hours. The fucceffive decreafe 

 of the light of the comet, and the brightnefs of the light of 

 the moon, did not allow of its being obferved any longer. It 

 traverfed the conltellations of Serpentarius and Hercules. 



During the ^6 days it was vifible he determined its pofition 

 on 23 ditferent davs; and from his own obfervations he «al- 

 culated the elements of its orbit as follows : they have no re- 

 femblance to thofe of any of the preceding comets : 

 Perihelion diftance 1-0942046 ; the mean diftance of the earth 



from the fun being fuppofed i*o. 

 PaflTage of the perihelion Sept. 9, i8o2j at 20 h. 43^-' mean 



time at Paris. 

 Place of the perihelion in the orbit 

 Longitude of the afcending node 

 Inclination of the orbit 

 Motion — direft. 



This comet is the 94th with the elements of the orbits of 

 which we are acquainted, and the thirteenth difcovered by 

 C. Mechain. It was obferved on the 26th of Augufl:, or two 

 days before, by C. Pons of Marfeilles ; but on thefe two days 

 the fky at Paris was overcaft. Dr. Olbers difcovered it alfo 

 at Bremen on the 2d of September. C. Meflier, our fellow- 

 labourer, and C. Bouvard, adjunil of the board of longitude, 

 obferved it with great affiduity after the appearance of it had 

 been announced l)y C. Mechain. 



We fliall give here only four pofitions determined by 

 C. Mechain ; the firft, the laft, and the two intermediate 

 ones: all the reft will be publiflied in detail in the next vo- 

 lume of our memoirs. 



The 



