48 
ASTRONOMY: C.P.OLIVIER 
ELLIPTICAL ELEMENTS 
PARABOLIC ELEMENTS 
No. 
oga 
oge 
Log q 
P 
N 
No. 
Date 
R A 
Decl. 
Log q 
N 
s. 
1 
0.514 
9.857 
9.962 
16.7 
280.1 
60.7 
1 
May 
21.6 
224.5 
25.2 
20.2 
9.954 
279.7 
60.7 
J. K. 
2 
0.514 
9.865 
9.948 
18.6 
287.6 
65.5 
2 
26.68 
230.3 
27.4 
22.4 
9.958 
283.4 
65.5 
P. T. 
o 
0 .514 
9.854 
9.970 
1/ .0 
282.6 
1 
00. 1 
3 
27.25 
331 .0 
It .0 
22.5 
9.958 
284.2 
66. 1 
J. K. 
4 
0.514 
9.856 
9.964 
19.0 
286.2 
66.5 
4 
27.67 
232.1 
26.8 
22.8 
9.954 
285.4 
66.5 
P T. 
5 
0.514 
9.855 
9.996 
19.1 
285.6 
68.0 
5 
29.2 
232.7 
28.0 
22.9 
9.960 
284.9 
68.0 
J. K. 
6 
0.514 
9.852 
9.974 
17.6 
287.6 
73.2 
6 
June 
3.7 
234.4 
27.5 
22.2 
9.965 
288.4 
73.2 
J.K 
7 
0.514 
9.855 
9.967 
18.2 
291.6 
74.2 
7 
4.68 
235.8 
25.6 
22.0 
9.961 
291.0 
74.2 
P. T. 
8 
0.514 
9.839 
0.005 
17.1 
268.3 
96.9 
8 
28.5 
203.0 
53.0 
20.9 
0.005 
268.3 
96.0 
B 
Comet 
0.514 
9.846 
9.988 
18.3 
271.6 
99.3 
1858 when it was rediscovered and named after Winnecke. Since then 
it has been seen in 1869, 1875, 1886, 1892, 1898, 1909, and 1915. While 
it has never been a bright comet, at its last return — a rather unfavor- 
able one it is true — it never surpassed the twelfth magnitude in bright- 
ness and was more than a unit's distance from the earth. The comet 
belongs to Jupiter's family and at present has a major axis of about 6.52 
astronomical units and a period of 5.89 years. 
Since at certain epochs it has passed very near Jupiter, the most 
massive of the planets, the elements of its orbit have been changed in a 
most marked manner due to perturbations caused by that body. Briefly 
from 1858 to 1909 its longitude of perihelion has changed from 276° 
to 272°, its ascending node from 114° to 99°, the eccentricity of its orbit 
from 0.76 to 0.70, and finally its periheUon distance from 0.70 to 0.97 
astronomical unit. This last change is the one of greatest importance 
for the present discussion, because it made possible the intersection 
of the earth's orbit with those of the meteors connected with the 
comet. 
It will be seen that this element was slowly increasing during this 
interval of 51 years, and hence, if the progression continued in the 
same direction, in the seven years since 1909 it should have reached the 
value unity almost exactly, which means that the nodal point was in- 
deed very near to the earth when the latter passed by it, late in June. 
While the inchnation of the comet's orbit has increased from 11° in 
1858 to 18° in 1909, still the extreme distances between the earth and 
the comet's 1909 orbit was only about 14,000,000 miles on May 25, 
and this decreased to 2,000,000 on June 28. Even this first figure is 
not excessive, because we already have positive proof that members 
of the Perseid and Aquarid streams have been observed at about that 
distance from the orbit of the parent comet. 
