THE GREAT COMET OF 1843. 125 



Cape of Good Hope, on the 3d, after which it was ob- 

 served regularly until its disappearance. At Trevandran, 

 in India, it was observed from the 6th ; at Cambridge, 

 Mass., it was observed on the 9th, and at numerous places 

 on the llth. The first European observation of the nu- 

 cleus was made on the 17th at Home and Naples, after 

 which it was seen at most of the continental observatories 

 till the end of March. 



The comet nowhere continued visible many days. It 

 was seldom seen in Europe after the 1st of April. The 

 last observation at Naples was on the 7th. Only one 

 later observation has been announced from Europe. This 

 was at Berlin, on the 15th, when Professor Encke thought 

 he caught a faint glimpse of the comet, but it could not 

 be found again on the subsequent evening. The most 

 complete series of observations in this country was made 

 by Messrs. Walker and Kendall of Philadelphia, where 

 the comet was followed until April 10th. At Hudson, 

 Ohio, the comet was seen for the last time April 6th. 



A great many astronomers have computed the orbit of 

 this comet, and have obtained very extraordinary results. 

 The comet receded from the sun almost in a straight line, 

 so that it required careful observations to determine in 

 which direction the comet passed round the sun, and some 

 at first obtained a direct orbit, when it should have been 

 retrograde. The perihelion distance was extremely small, 

 very little exceeding the sun's radius. Some have ob- 

 tained a smaller quantity than this, but such a supposi- 

 tion seems to involve an impossibility. It is certain, 



