ASTRONOMY. 



[NOTES ON COMETS. 



Ilewe. and Rothmaun, his astronomer, on o.-t..'.. , 

 and afterwards observed by Tycho to November 2-nd. 

 At its first appearance it equalled Jupiter in magnitude, 

 hut of leu brightness. Tills comet had neither coma 

 ii..r tail. 



This comet was discovered on March 5th by 

 'I\ , ho, and obMrveil to March 1C. It is noted M being 

 of a medium magnitude ; Imt it had a great tail, which 

 I extended to the zenith. On the day of its discovery, 

 the comet appeared M a star of the second magnitude, 

 and shortly afterward*, on the umo night, of thu first 

 magnitude. IU brightness, however, was not so great 

 at stars of this description. 



1693. This comet, which escaped entirely Tycho's 

 scrutiny and observations, was discovered by his pupil, 

 Do Ripen, at Zerbst, in Anhault. On August 4th, it 

 was noted as being of a livid and reddish colour ; its 

 head equalled in magnitude stars of the third class, with 

 a tail 4 in length. On August 9th, it was equal in 

 brightness to stars of the fourth magnitude, and a very 

 slight vestige of a tail could be perceived. 



1596. This comet appears to have been discovered on 

 July llth, and observed to the 12th of August Its 

 colour was feeble and pale, with a tail small, fleeting, 

 an.) nn. 1. -lined. Valz considered that this comet was 

 identical with that of 1845. 



10(17. The third apparition of Halley's comet, as as- 

 certained by the elements, which, however, are not con- 

 sidered so accurate as could be wished. It was observed 

 by Kepler in Prague, by Longeiuoutauus in Copenhagen, 

 and Malmoe in Scania (a province of Sweden). Bessel's 

 orbit is deduced from the observations of the English 

 astronomer Harriott. 



1618. The first comet of this year was discovered at 

 Caschau, in Hungary, on August 25th, and observed by 

 Kepler from September 1st to September 25th. 



1018. The second comet of this year was discovered at 

 Silesia, on November 10th, and at Rome on the same 

 day. At Ispahan, in 1'ersia, the Spanish ambassador 

 saw this comet for the space of fifteen or sixteen days, 

 commencing with November 10th, two hours before the 

 rising of the sun. The length of its tail equalled in ex- 

 tent one-sixth part of the zodiac. On November 18th, 

 tli.- Jesuits at the Roman College noted the extent of 

 the tail to be 40. 



1 1 '47. Seen in Prussia on September 29th, soon after 

 the setting of the sun. This comet was small, and re- 

 mained visible for a very short time. 



1652. This comet, which was of a pale and livid colour, 

 almost equalled the moon in magnitude, according to 

 IleveliiiH and Do Caniers. It was observed by many 

 astronomers, but, with the exception of those by Hevelius 

 at Dantzic, the observations are very rough. Dr. 

 Halley has computed his orbit from the observations of 

 Hevelius. 



1661. This comet, which was considered at first to be 

 a return of the comet of 1532, was discovered by Hevelius 

 from February 3rd to March 10th. On these observations 

 IM Halley has calculated its orliit ; but no body, which 

 bears any similarity to these elements, was observed in 

 1780 or 1790. 



1664. This comet appears to have been discovered on 

 November 17th, in Spain. It was observed by Huy 



on December 2nd, and by Hevelius on December 14th. 

 The observations were continued by Hevelius to February 

 18th of 1666. At its first appearance it was noted as 

 Urge M a star of the first magnitude, but not so bright. 

 The length of the tail was from 5 or 6 to 10. 



1665. This comet was seen at Aix on March 27th. 

 Fioui the observations of Hevelius. from April Oth to 

 April '-Tith. Dr. Halley has calculated its orbit. 



1668. This comet, of which the tail appears to have 

 been only seen at Bologna, was observed principally in the 

 southern hemisphere. There appears to be Home simi- 

 larity of elements with the comet of 1843. 



1 '-7- This e et was observed by Hevoliusat Dantzic 



00 March 2nd, and seen by him till April 21st. tin 

 these data Dr. Halley has computed his orliit. The 

 comet was small, having a tail only 1 or 1 J iu length. 



Father Fontenoy, of the S. ietv of tin- Jesuits, 

 observed a comet at Nantes on the 14th of February. 

 It was visible to March 9th, and was equal to stars of 

 the third magnitude. This comet had no tail. 



1677. This comet was discovered at D.mt/ie, on April 

 27th, by Hevelius. It was observed to the 8th of May. 

 and it is on these observations Dr. Halley has calculated 

 his orbit The magnitude of this body was equal to 

 Jupiter, and it had a tail about 2 in length. 



I07S. La Hire discovered this comet on September 

 llth, and observed it to October 7th. The orbit, how- 

 ever, deduced by Dawes is very rough, principally in 

 consequence of the uncertainty of the observations. 



1680. This great and celebrated comet was discovered 

 by a person whose name is unknown, at Coburg in 

 Saxony, on November 4th. It was, independently, dis- 

 covered by Godfrey Kirch, on the 14th of November, 

 while about to observe the Moon and Mars. Flamsteed, 

 at Greenwich, saw the comet on the 20th of December, 

 and observed it to the 15th of February, 1681. The 

 length of the tail on December 1 6th was 70. Several 

 elliptic orbits have been calculated for this comet. 



1682. Halley's comet. It was first observed at Paris 

 by Picard and La Hire, on August _'' th, and last ob- 

 served by Flamsteed on September 19th. Its head was 

 2' in diameter, and the length of the tail varied from 12 

 to 15. 



1683. Hevelius observed this comet at Dantzic, from 

 the 30th of July to the 4th of September. Clausen's 

 elliptic elements, from Flamsteed's observations, give 

 its period as 190 years. Its nucleus was equal to a 

 star of the fourth magnitude, with a tail varying from 

 2 to 4. 



1G84. This comet was discovered by Bianchini, at 

 Rome. It was observed from July 1st to July 17th ; on 

 which observations Halley has calculated it orbit. 



1686. In the August of this year a comet was visible at 

 Para, in Brazil, during the whole month. Its head 

 equalled stars of the first magnitude, and its tail was 18 

 in length. 



1689. This comet was discovered at Pekin on the 

 llth of December. It was not seen at all in Europe. 

 On December llth, the part visible of the tail was from 

 10^ to 12'. In the southern hemisphere it was regu- 

 larly observed, and its tail, at the greatest, was 60 long. 



1695. This comet was almost obscured by the atmo- 

 sphere or coma by which it was surrounded, so that the 

 nucleus was scarcely distinguishable. It was seen in the 

 southern hemisphere, in the Brazils, by Father Jacob, a 

 French Jesuit, on October 28th. The length of the tail 

 was then 18. 



1698. The orbit of this comet is very uncertain, in 

 quence of the roughness of the observations. Cas- 



siui discovered it at Paris, in the beginning of Sep- 

 tember, in the constellation Cassiopeia. La Hire ob- 

 served it to Septembr 28th. This comet was only seen 

 at Paris, and was not larger than a star of the third 

 magnitude. 



1699. Discovered at Pekin, by Father de Fontrnoy, 

 on February 17th, and observed to February '-"6th. It 

 was seen at Paris from February 20th to March '-'ml. 



1701. This comet was discovered at Pau, by Father 

 1'alla, from October 28th to November 1st. It was a 

 small body without tail, and diminished sensibly in 

 magnitude. 



1702. This comet, which was the second discovered 

 this year, was observed from April '20th to May 5th, at 

 Paris, Rome, and Berlin. The orbit is uncertain, in 

 consequence of the roughness of the observations. This 

 comet was compared to a nebulous star on April 20th. 



I TIN;. Observed at I'aris by Cassini and Maraldi, from 

 March 18th to April 16th. This comet was also similar 

 in appearance to a nebulous star. 



1707. This comet appears to have been discovered at 

 I'.ologna on Novemlier L'.'ith, and observed to January 

 21lrd of the. following year. Of all known comets, this 

 body has the greatest inclination. Viewed with a tele- 

 scope, it appeared to be nebulous, and of the second 

 magnitude. 



