19 



Notes on the Comet of February, 



1880. 



By C. Todd, C.M.G., T.R.A.S., Vice-President. 

 (Read March 2, 1880.) 



[Plate III.] 



You will uo doubt expect to receive from me some account 

 of the fine comet which during the first half of last month 

 formed so conspicuous an object in our evening sky. I regret 

 that I have not very mucb to tell you about it, and I fear I 

 cannot tell you much more than you already know ; but it is 

 only proper that what little I have to say should appear on tbe 

 records of this Society. Owing to the extreme faintness of 

 the nucleus, and its low altitude at first, very few measure- 

 ments could be taken, and these extend over so short an interval 

 as to afford no data for determining even approximately its 

 orbit. My friend Mr. Ellery succeeded in getting measures on 

 February 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17, and glimpsed it on the 6th 

 and 13th. I obtained measures on the 12th, 13th, 16th, and 

 17th, and I just glimpsed it on the 18th ; but thin clouds and 

 bright moonlight prevented any observations of its position 

 being taken. This, I believe, was the last occasion on which it 

 was seen in Australia, the increasing moonlight on the next 

 evening completely blotting out so faint an object, although I 

 made a long and keen search for it with the telescope directed 

 over the spot in the sky in which I knew tbe nucleus to be 

 situated. Mr. Russell, the ' Government Astronomer in 

 Sydney, who possesses a splendid equatorial, with an object 

 glass of over eleven inches aperture, by Schroeder, only saw 

 the nucleus twice for short intervals between clouds on the 

 13th and 14th ; and Mr. Tebbutt, of Windsor, X.S.W., whom 

 you all know as an ardent and experienced observer, writes me 

 to say that owing to clouds he has been unable to see the 

 nucleus at all. I mention these circumstpm-es partly because 

 you will no doubt have seen remarks complaining of the little 

 information I gave the public respecting the comet, and re- 

 proaching me for not sooner detecting the nucleus. I think 

 what I have told you will suffice to show that the nucleus was 

 not a very easy thing to see, especially when it was low down 

 in the mists of the horizon, and the atmosphere on the horizon 



