224 Comets. 



COMETS. 



AN ACCOUNT OF Ali THE COMETS WHOSE ORBITS HATE NOT BEEN CALCULATED. 



BY G. I\ CHAMBERS. 

 (Continued from Fage 126, Vol. viii.) 



1402. About February 8, a comet appeared, which after- 

 wards became very brilliant, so much so as to be visible in 

 the daytime ; it lasted till the middle of April. It appears to 

 have been first seen in the S.W., setting in the W. At the 

 beginning of March it was in Aries, and was seen from two 

 and a half hours before, till three hours after sunset, or 

 even later. Subsequently it was seen in the N.W. on Palm 

 Sunday, March 19 ; its size was prodigious. — (Walsingham; 

 Poggius, Historia Florentines. ; Ebendorfferus, Ohronicon Aus- 

 triacum.) 



1402. [ii.] From June to September, an immense comet 

 was visible in the W. — (Ducas, Historia Byzantina.) The 

 descriptions are long, but contain nothing of practical value. 

 The comet was visible in the daytime, and perhaps it attained 

 its maximum brilliancy at the end of August. This, or the pre- 

 ceding, was regarded as the sign, by some even the cause, of 

 the death of John Galeas Visconti Duke of Milan. — [Annates 

 Forolivienses.) 



1406. Some time between January and June, a comet ap- 

 peared in the W. for several nights. — (Ghronicon Bremensis.) 



1407. On December 15, a. comet was seen. — (Biot.) 



1408. On October 16, a comet, or something like one, was 

 seen. — (Antonius Petrus, Diarium Romanum.) 



1429 or 1480 (preferably the latter). A terrible comet ap- 

 peared on August 24. — (Kaempfer, Historie du Japon, ii. 5.) 

 Graubil mentions a great star having been seen for a week in 

 October, November. 



143.1. On May 15 or 27, a comet 5° long was observed in 

 the feet of Gemini. — (Ma-tuoan-lin.) 



1432. On February 2, a comet about 10° long appeared. 

 It " swept " the region near a Cygni, and disappeared on Fe- 

 bruary 12. On February 29, another comet (doubtless the 

 same, after its P. P.) became visible for seventeen days. — (Biot.) 



1436. James I. of Scotland was assassinated on February 

 20, 1437. During the previous autumn a comet was seen. — 

 (Boethius, Hist. Scot, svii.) 



1439. [i.] On March 25, a comet was seen. It traversed 

 Hvdra, Leo, and Cancer. On April 2 it had a tail 5° long. — 

 (Biot.) 



