THE GREAT COMET OF 1843. 123 



ruary, east of the sun, distant about one sixth of his diam- 

 eter. 



The comet was seen at Pernambuco, Brazil, and in Yan 

 Dieman's Land, on the 1st of March. On the second, it 

 was seen in great brilliancy at St. Thomas, and by various 

 navigators in the equatorial regions. On the evening of 

 the 3d, it was noticed at Key West, and excited much at- 

 tention. On the 4th, it was seen by a few in the latitude 

 of New York, and on Sunday evening the 5th, it was 

 noticed very generally. From this date, until about the 

 close of the month, it presented a most magnificent spec- 

 tacle every clear evening in the absence of the moon. 

 As seen near the equator, the tail had a darkish line from 

 its head through the center to the end. It was occasion- 

 ally brilliant enough to throw a strong light upon the 

 sea. The greatest length of tail was, about the 5th of 

 March, 69 as measured with a sextant, and it was ob- 

 served to have considerable curvature. One observer de- 

 scribes it as an elongated birch rod slightly curved, and 

 having a breadth of one degree. At the Oape of Good 

 Hope, on the 3d, it is described as a double tail, about 

 25 in length, the two streamers making with each other 

 an angle of about a quarter of a degree, and proceeding 

 from the head in perfectly straight lines. The greatest 

 length of tail observed in the United States, was about 

 50. The curvature of the tail upward, though very 

 noticeable, scarcely exceeded two degrees. The first ob- 

 servation of the nucleus (with the exception of the noon- 

 day observations) is believed to have been made at the 



