74 



detected on both, of course as a very tiny, faint object. One cannot 

 help wishing that the plates had been carefully examined at once, 

 and the announcement of first discovery might have emanated from 

 our national observatory. {See last paragraph but two). 



The position of the comet, so found, is almost exactly in accord- 

 ance with the ephemeris mentioned above, and we heartily con- 

 gratulate Mr. Crommelin on the complete success of his laborious 

 investigation. 



Since then the comet has been visually observed in the 40-inch 

 telescope of the Yerkes Observatory in the U.S.A., and just at the 

 time of writing Mr. H. F. Newall informs the *' Times " that he has 

 seen the comet in the 25-inch refractor of the Cambridge Observa- 

 tory ; this was on October 21st, and thus the first European 

 observation of it has been made in England. It was then very 

 faint, about the 14th magnitude, and all doubt about it was 

 removed by the fact that its motion among the stars was evident. 



Halley's comet will now go on increasing in size and brightness, 

 and at the end of the year it should be well within the reach of 

 moderate-sized telescopes. The date of perihelion passage is antici- 

 pated on 1910, April 20th. The comet will be an evening star in 

 Pisces next January and February, a fairly bright morning star in 

 April, and at its greatest splendour in the evening after the middle 

 of May. It will then be better placed for observers in the southern 

 hemisphere. 



Since the above was written, Professor H. H. Turner, F.R.S., 

 has stated in a lecture delivered at Birmingham that the comet was 

 photographed at the astronomical observatory of the Egyptian 

 Government at Helwan on August 24th. If this is so, we may yet 

 congratulate ourselves, as Britishers, that the first discovery was 

 made here, as the observatory is directed by an Englishman. 



It may be added as a matter of mutual congratulation that our 

 member, Mr. E. W. Barlow, F.R.A.S., got his first view of the 

 comet on the evening of the 30th November, 1909, in a 4^-inch 

 refracting telescope. The comet appeared as a tiny ball of 

 nebulosity, and there could be no mistake about it, as it was in its 

 calculated place, very near the bright star Aldebaran, and its motion 

 among the surrounding fixed stars almost immediately proclaimed 

 its cometary character. 



I had the pleasure of seeing the comet on the evening of 3rd 

 December in my 8^-inch reflector. It appeared as a very small 

 patch of nebulosity. A second observation, made two hours later 

 on the same evening, revealed its motion among the stars. On 4th 

 December it was again seen, and was unchanged in appearance. 



* This differs 4 days from the date given in the Plate, which was inserted from 

 an earlier ephemeris. 



