MEMOIRS 



OP THE 



LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

 OF MANCHESTER. 



I. Observations of Comet I. 1861. 

 By Joseph Baxendell, Esq.^ F.R.A.S, 



Bead October ist, 1861. 



Although this comet was not at any time a very con- 

 spicuous object to the naked eye, yet some of the features 

 which it presented when viewed with a good telescope at 

 the time of its greatest brightness were sufficiently re- 

 markable to render it an object of peculiar interest to the 

 astronomer; and I have therefore thought that a brief 

 account of the observations made with the excellent instru- 

 ments of Mr. Worthington^s observatory might be accept- 

 able to the members of this Society. 



My first observation was made on the night of May 3rdj 

 1 86 1. The comet was then already visible to the naked 

 eye as a dull, hazy-looking star of the 4I magnitude. At 

 J oh I ym ^^gs. y Gr.M.T. a Comparison with the star Argelander 

 I y 8,8 = 190, 112 made mth the equatorially-mounted achro- 

 matic of 5 inches aperture, and a dark-field photographed 

 micrometer constructed by Mr. Dancer, gave the comet^s 

 apparent place R.A. 10^ 5"^ 27^76, Dec. + 48° 52' f-j. 



SER. III. VOL. II. B 







