OBSERVATIONS AND ORBIT-ELEMENTS OF COMET GALE. 



131 



parison stars. Observations were discontinued after May 11th, 

 as the comet could then be easily observed on the meridian in the 

 northern hemisphere, and is doubtless still under observation there. 

 The first published elements of the comet's orbit are by Mr. 

 R. T. A. Innes of Sydney, p.r.a.s. They are based on the 

 Windsor positions for April 4th, 8th, and 12th. Although the 

 position for the 8th rested on a single comparison, and I could 

 not therefore recommend its adoption as a fundamental one, Mr. 

 Innes' elements were a good approximation. Elements were 

 subsequently computed by Mr. P. Baracchi of the Melbourne 

 Observatory from the Windsor position for April 3rd and Mel- 

 bourne positions for April 7th and 11th, and by the Rev. Dr. 

 Roseby of Marrickville, from the Windsor places for April 3rd, 

 6th, and 12th. 



Considering the short heliocentric arc over which these data 

 -extend, the three sets of elements agree remarkably well. Lastly 

 a set of elements, uncorrected for aberration or parallax, was 

 computed by me from the Windsor observations of April 3rd, 1 2th 

 and 21st, the heliocentric arc in this case being twenty-five degrees 

 or about twice as long as that embraced by the other determina- 

 tions. As it will be interesting to compare the four sets of 

 •elements, I reproduce them in the following table : 



Computer. 



Innes. 



Baracchi 



Roseby. 



Tebbutt. 



Greenwich M. T. of perihelion 

 passage 1894, April 



Distance of perihelion from 

 ascending node 



Longitude of ascending node 

 from M. Equinox 18940... 



d. 

 1342 



o ' 



324 14*5 

 206 22'9 



d. 



13-7489 



O ' // 



324 19 15 

 206 14 59 



d. 

 13757 



O 1 II 



324 18 7-8 

 206 14 23-8 



d. 

 13-53267 



O ' II 



324 16 19 

 206 19 24 



Inclination of orbit 



87 0-7 



87 15 13 



87 16 15-3 



87 6 36 



Perihelion distance 



0-98308 



0-98492 



098512 



0-98362 



Heliocentric motion 



Direct 



Direct 



Direct 



Direct 



As soon as I could spare the time from the ordinary reductions 

 of the observations I proceeded to a second approximation founded 

 on my extreme observations for April 3rd and May 11th and the 

 >early position for the evening of April 22nd. The selected apparent 



