BY JOHN TEBBUTT, JUN. 141 



been in every way well situated to serve as a striking object, 

 were it not for the unfortunate circumstance that the moon was 

 approaching her opposition ; altogether it does not appear to 

 have attracted much attention. Mr. Biden mentions in his 

 letter that the comet's tail was about five degrees in length, but 

 then he saw it under more favourable circumstances, namely, 

 when the moon was comparatively young. On the evening of 

 the 1st the nucleus was about equal to a star of the fourth magni- 

 tude. It was of a dull lead colour, large, and of a very elliptical 

 form, but not of a character calculated to afford very precise 

 determinations of position. A conspicuous star of the sixth 

 magnitude was fortunately found near the comet, which served 

 as a standard of comparison. The observations of that evening 

 gave the following result : 



September 1st, 7h. 33m. 13s., Windsor M.T. R.A. 15h. 

 46m. 53.8s. Declination, 20 28' 32" N. This corresponds to 

 a position a little south of or above the constellation Corona 

 Borealis. Comparisons, repeated at short intervals, showed that 

 the comet was moving slowly in right ascension, but very rapidly 

 in declination. The rapid movement of the comet thus indicated 

 gave ground for hope that observations extending over a few 

 days would afford a tolerable approximation to the orbit. This, 

 you will remember, was not the case with the great comet of last 

 year ; that body moved over a space of only a few minutes of a 

 degree during the week succeeding its discovery, so that nearly 

 a month elapsed before a determination of the orbit could be 

 attempted. Such was also the case of Donati's comet of 1858. 

 On the following evening (the 2nd), the comet was found to 

 have moved between five and six degrees in declination, and in a 

 direction nearly due south. On this occasion it presented a 

 rather curious aspect in my telescope. The nucleus was more 

 distinct than on the preceding evening, but it appeared as two 

 bright points connected by a slender thread of light. I was at 

 first disposed to regard this phenomenon as the result of some 

 defect in the object-glass of the telescope, but was soon satisfied 

 that such could not be the case. The Rev. C. F. Garnsey, of 

 Windsor, assures me that he observed the same phenomenon 

 some days later, but with a telescope of smaller dimensions. 



J 



