SECTION V. 



MISS MITCHELL'S COMET. 



THIS comet was discovered on the 1st of October, 

 1847, by Miss Maria Mitchell, of Nantucket. As a re- 

 laxation from the severer toil of a systematic course of 

 observations, she had employed the intervals through the 

 preceding year in sweeping for comets ; but her labors 

 had .hitherto been only rewarded by a familiarity with 

 comet-resembling nebulae, which she had constantly and 

 carefully recorded. The instrument employed on these 

 occasions was a forty-six inch refractor, with an aperture 

 of three inches, mounted on a tripod, and furnished with 

 a terrestrial eye-piece of moderate power. On the even- 

 ing of October 1st, a circular nebulous body appeared in 

 the field of the telescope, a few degrees above Polaris. 

 There was scarcely a doubt of the cometary character 

 of this object, inasmuch as the region which it occupied 

 had frequently been examined. Still, as the object was 

 faint, and the weather uncommonly clear, a possibility 

 existed that this too was a nebula not before observed. 

 On the evening of the 2d, its change of place was mani- 

 fest. No appearance of condensation of light toward its 

 center, nor any indication of a train, could be detected. 



