Miscellanies. 155 



MISCELLANIES. 



1. Halley^s Comet. — Agreeably to the predictions of astronomers, 

 Halley's Comet has revisited our sphere, bringing along with it the 

 most triumphant confirmation hitherto afforded, of the truth of the 

 Newtonian philosophy. For several evenings past, it has presented 

 a most striking feature in our evening sky, as it moved along above 

 the bright stars in Ursa Major, with a train which has been constant- 

 ly enlarging, with its vertex reaching nearly to the tail of the North- 

 ern Dragon. 



This interesting body was first observed in this country, by Pro- 

 fessor Olmsted and Tutor Loomis of Yale College, on the morn- 

 ing of the 31st of August. While they were reconnoitering for the 

 expected visitant, with Clark's telescope,* they descried some- 

 thing which they suspected was the comet; but, from the possibility 

 of confounding it with a nebula, they impatiently waited for the next 

 night to see whether it changed its place among the stars. An ob- 

 servation repeated on the morning of September 1st, plainly indica- 

 ted a proper motion, the body during the interval having passed 

 quite out of a trapezium which, when first seen, it formed with 

 three small stars. 



The position of the comet, when first observed, was north of the 

 Bull's horns, a little below the vertex of an equilateral triangle form- 

 ed with those two stars. Or, more particularly, at 2 o'clock, on the 

 morning of August 31st, its Right Ascension was 5h. 50.5m., and its 

 Declination N. 24° 46.8'. Its place, therefore, coincided very 

 nearly with the last results of calculation, derived from the elements 

 of Pontecoulant, and given in the Connaissance des Terns for 1837. 

 According to that authority, the place of the comet, on the first of 

 September, would be, in R. A. 5h. 52', and in Declination, 25° 

 32', — a coincidence probably the most remarkable of any ever ex- 

 hibited under difficulties equally formidable. 



The appearance of the comet, at first, was that of a dim cloud, or 

 halo, nearly circular, denser towards the central parts, and fading 



* This instrument was made by DoUond in 1831, expressly for Yale College. 

 It is an achromatic, having a focal length of ten feet, and an aperture of five 

 inches. The power employed on this occasion, was fifty five, being the lowest 

 astronomical eye glass. This fine telescope was presented to Yale College by 

 Sheldon Clark, Esq. of Oxford, Conn, who has also laid the foundation of a pro- 

 fessorship and of a scholarship in Yale College. 



