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'*\>-^'- -rj^-y:du=L^jjXJ- i> rcnZH^i^K-i^^^L' 



^■^-V 



152 



MATHEMATICAL and 



N. B. In the Parabolic TrajeBory of this Comet (Plate 

 I. Fig. 2.) fuppofe that part, from A to B, a little elevated 

 above the plane of the ecliptic ; and the remainder, from B to 

 C, as much deprefled below it; the two planes interfer- 

 ing each other in the line of the nodes, at an angle of i^- 

 49'. 



Some account ofthefatnc COMET, in a letter from the 

 Ri^ht Bonor able William Earl of St iklx^g^ /^Wil- 

 liam Smith, D. D. Provofl of the College of Phila- 

 delphia, Communicated to the Society^ Aug. 17,. 1770, 



VIZ. 



DEAR SIR, 



Baskenridge, June2()^ ^11^- 



OU have reafon to think me negligent in not com- 

 municating (according to my promifes, to you) my 

 obfervations of the laft Tranftt of Venus. I now fend them% 

 and you fhould have had them before, but I have been To 

 much engaged in bufinefs the laft twelve months, that I 



have had but little time to think of any thing elfe. 



/ 



ten 



in a 



about 78 ^\ dlflant from the pole. It would pafs the me- 

 ridian, I imagine, about midnight, and a little before lyra. 

 Its appearance was larger than a ftar of the firft magnitude, 

 of a dull light, with a bright fpeck or nucleus^ in the cen- 



I take it to be a comet, and that its tail is from us. 

 But whether it be a comet or not, will be determined 

 few days; for as it changes its place, and the earth moves 

 on in its orbit, the pofitlon of the tail, with regard to the 

 earth, muft be altered, and will then appear to encreafe 



in length, 



June 30th. Laft night I again obfervcd the new dlfco- 

 vered ftar. Its appearance was much as it was the night 

 before, but I think rather larger. Its fituation was about 

 70"* from the pole, and it palled the meridian with lyra 

 ahnoft half after eleven. I think I have its place fo well 



marked 



They are infcrted u1wv<-, P. 125. 



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