On the Orbit-Elements of Comet I., 1880 (Great 
Southern Comet 
By J. Tessutt, F.R.A.S. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N.S.W., 7 July, 1880.] 
Tux comet which forms the subject of the present paper was one 
get a sight of the head, and then for a few seconds merely, be- 
tween clouds. Fort unately the weather was more favourable at 
the Melbourne ptomieren: and Mr. Ellery, and his valued assist- 
ant, Mr. White, succeeded in obtaining observations on the even- 
ings of February 3th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, and these 
Mr. Ellery has very kindly communicated to me. On May 21st 
the Observatory for — 1st came to hand, from which I learned 
that communications had reached Englan and from Mr. Gill, of = 
also 
determination of the comet’s orbit. In a paragraph of the same 
— of the Observatory it was also stated that Dr. Gould, of 
the Argentine National Observatory at Cordoba, had observed the 
comet. The following elements communicated by Mr. Hind had 
been computed respectively by Mr. Finlay, Chief Assistant at the 
Cape of Good Hope Observatory, and by Mr. Hind, from an 
observation by Dr. Gould on February 4th, and from rough places 
for February 10th and 15th, sent to England by Mr. Gill. These 
elements, placed in juxtaposition with those computed by Hub- 
sets for the great comet of 1843, appeared in the Observatory as 
ollows :— 
Finlay. Hind. Comet, 1843. 
Perihelion passage -- 1880, Jan. 27°55d Jan. 27 60274 GMT 
Longitude be perihelion Be 280° 16’ 279° 6.8 278° 35-1 
itude of ascending node. . 123 24°5 419 1 206 
Inclination mA ic 75 12 35 39°8 35 38°2 
Perihelion distance lea te 0-008001 0°0059390 0°005511 
Motion Direct Retrograde Retrograde 
Sun’s radius, 0-004664 (gun’s mean distance = =a J). 
