ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA. 



43 



lated at Harvard University, was 17 hours, 7 

 minutes, 47.76 seconds, and its declination X 

 59 degrees, 30 minutes, 13.8 seconds. 



The brilliant comet of July was first noticed 

 at New Haven, Connecticut, on Sunday even- 

 ing the 30th of June, between eight and nine 

 o'clock, in the northern part of the heavens, in 

 an opening between the clouds and at an eleva- 

 tion of about ten degrees. Its appearance, as 

 de^pribed in the American Journal of Science, 

 was similar to that of the planet Jupiter shin- 

 ing through a thin mist ; and it was nearly as 

 conspicuous an object in the heavens as Jupi- 

 ter, although this was due not only to the in- 

 tensity of its light, but partly to its extent of 

 surface, its apparent diameter being about 

 equal to that of the full moon. It was at once 

 suspected that this body was a comet ; but this 

 conclusion was adopted with some reserve, on 

 account of the unusual brilliancy and sudden 

 apparition of the meteor. This light was soon 

 concealed by a cloud ; but about half an hour 

 later, a larger opening in the clouds disclosed 

 the tail of the comet, in the form of a bright 

 streamer, with sides nearly straight and paral- 

 lel, and pretty sharply defined. The head of 

 the comet was now invisible ; but a little later 

 both head and tail were seen simultaneously, 

 forming together one of the most brilliant 

 comets of the last fifty years, and astonishing 

 every one by the sud'denness of its develop- 

 ment. 



On Monday it was ascertained that on Satur- 

 day evening several individuals had noticed in 

 the north a bright streamer, rising to a great 

 height above the horizon, and it was at once 

 concluded that this was the tail of the same 

 comet. The daily newspapers report, that the 

 head of the comet was seen on Saturday even- 

 ing at Columbus, in Ohio ; but it is not known 

 that any one made any accurate determination 

 of its place. 



On Monday evening, July 1st, it was ob- 

 served at the Coast Survey Office, in "Washing- 

 ton, and its appearance is thus described by 

 Mr. W. P. Trowbridge : 



" At eleven o'clock last night, while some 

 gentlemen of the Coast Survey were engaged 

 at the office, they observed a broad beam of 

 light stretching up towards the zenith from 

 behind a dark cloud extending over the north- 

 western sky. It was supposed at first to be an 

 auroral beam, and but little further attention 

 was. given to it till just before one o'clock, 

 \vhen, the clouds having blown off, a comet of 

 extraordinary brilliance was observed in the 

 northwest, the nucleus brighter than a star of 

 the first magnitude, at an altitude of about six 

 degrees above the horizon, and the tail extend- 

 ing towards the stars of the Little Bear, and 

 stretching over an area of at least eighty de- 

 grees, the line of the tail making an angle "with 

 the horizon of between seventy and eighty 

 degrees. The tail was without sensible curva- 

 ture, but in brilliancy and magnitude this comet 

 rivals the great comet of 1858." 



Professor Bond, at the Observatory of Har- 

 vard College, Cambridge, Mass., says : 



"The suddenness of the apparition of the 

 comet in northern latitudes was one of the 

 most impressive of its characteristics. On the 

 2d of July, after the twilight had disappeared, 

 the head, to the naked eye, was much brighter 

 than a star of the first magnitude, if only the 

 effective impression be taken into account, 

 although as to intensity it was far inferior to a 

 Lyra, or even to a Ursa) Majoris. I should 

 describe the head as nearly equal in brightness 

 to that of the great comet of 1858, between the 

 30th of September and the 5th of October ; it 

 should be considered however that the present 

 comet was better situated, from its higher posi- 

 tion above the horizon at the end of twilight. 



" The aspect of the tail suggested a resem- 

 blance to the comet of March, 1843. It was a 

 narrow, straight ray projected to a distance of 

 one hundred and six degrees (106) from the 

 nucleus, being easily distinguishable quite up to 

 the borders of the milky way." 



This comet was first seen in Europe on Sun- 

 day evening, June 30th, about ten o'clock, ap- 

 pearing with extraordinary splendor. At the 

 same hour it became visible at Rome, Lisbon, 

 Paris, and London. Its appearance in London 

 is thus described : 



"The comet is, in fact, a very small body 

 the diameter of the nucleus, according to Mr. 

 Hind's measurement, being no more than fonr 

 hundred miles. . Its excessive brilliancy is due 

 to its nearness to the earth. "When first seen, 

 it was no more than thirteen millions of miles 

 from this planet and this evening (Saturday, 

 July 6) it will be under twenty-three millions 

 from us. The rate at which it is moving from 

 our point of vision is nearly thirty miles a sec- 

 ond more than a hundred thousand miles an 

 hour. So small an object will very soon get 

 beyond our view. French papers say that this 

 is the comet of Charles the Fifth, which has 

 been expected about this period ; but this, it 

 appears, is a mistake. Mr. Hind states that 

 ' the comet arrived at its least distance from 

 the sun about one o'clock on the morning of 

 June 10, in heliocentric longitude 244 35', be- 

 ing then separated from him by 76.000,000 

 miles. It crossed the plane of the Earth's orbit 

 from the south to the north side in longitude 

 279 1' on June 28, in a path inclined 85 58' to 

 the ecliptic. The true orbital motion is di- 

 rect.' " 



The following communication on the subject 

 was also published : 



" CEAXFOKD, July 4, 1861. 



" Although I watched diligently for a break 

 in the clouds, on Monday, the 1st instant, I 

 did not get a sight of the comet, and it was on 

 the 2d, at 7 minutes past nine o'clock, that I 

 first perceived the comet. The head of- the 

 comet was then as bright as a star of the sec- 

 ond magnitude, but appeared to the naked eye 

 fully as large as Jupiter, which was visible near 

 the western horizon ; the head was almost ver- 



