Comets. 307 



1584. On July 1, a star appeared in the division of it 

 Scorpii. — (Biot.) 



1591. On April 3, a comet 1° long was seen. It traversed 

 Pegasus and Aries, increasing in length to 2°. On April 13 it 

 entered the division of /S Arietis. — (Biot.) 



1604. On September 30, a large star, like a ball, appeared 

 in the division of fi 2 Scorpii. It vanished in the S.W. in 

 November. On January 14, 1605, it reappeared in the S.E. 

 About March it became dim. — (Biot.) 



1609. A great star appeared in the S.W. — (Biot.) 



1618. [ii.] Between November 10 and 26, a comet was 

 seen by Figueroes, at Ispahan, coincidently with the appa- 

 rition of Comet III. of this year. In consequence of the comet's 

 southerly position, the head was not generally (if at all) seen 

 in Europe ; only the tail. Kepler and Blancanus were the 

 chief observers who saw the latter. Kepler guessed that on 

 November 10 the nucleus was in 16° of Scorpio, with a latitude 

 S. of 8°, and that on November 20 it was near the head of the 

 Centaur. At Borne the tail was seen to be 40° long on No- 

 vember 18. It was last observed there on the 29th. The 

 observers (Jesuits) note that in eleven days, the proper motion 

 of the tail caused it to pass over 24° from Crater towards a 

 Hydras. — (Pingre, ii. 5.) It may be well to mention here that 

 Mr. Cooper, in his valuable Oometic Orbits, p. 77, appears to 

 have fallen into a mistake relative to the comets of this year, 

 which others have copied. He gives the elements of Vae third 

 comet, and appends notes referring to the second and third, as 

 if they were one and the same object. 



1619. In February (?) a comet was seen in the S.E.; it 

 was long. — (Biot.) 



1625. From January 26 unto February, a comet was ob- 

 served by Schickhardt in Hidamus and Cetus. — (Astrcmomische 

 Nachrichten, No. 31, April 1823.) 



1639. On October 27, a comet with a small tail was seen 

 in Caius Major, by Placidus De Titis. — (Ast. Nacli., No. 171, 

 January, 1830.) 



1640. On December 12, a comet was seen. — (Biot.) 

 1647. On September 29, a comet was seen soon after sun- 

 set, in Coma Berenicis. Its longitude was 188°, and its lati- 

 tude ~h 26°. It was 12° long, and lasted one week, traversing 

 Bootis N. of Arcturus, to Corona Borealis, in a line sensibly 

 parallel to the equator. — (Hevelius, Gometographia, p. 463.) 



1699. [ii.] On October 26, Godefroi Kirch observed a 

 faint comet in the poop of Argo, in longitude 122° 34' and 

 latitude — 40° 38'. It was visible to the naked eye, and its 

 motion was sensibly southwards. Kirch was unable to find it 

 on any subsequent night. — (Miscell. Berlin, v. 50.) 



