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XXXII. Account of a Comet. By Mr. Herfchel, F. R. S, 
communicated by Dr . Watfon, 5/" Bath, R, S. 
Read April 26, 1781 . 
O N Tuefday the 13th of March, between ten and eleven 
in the evening, while I was examining the fmall liars in 
the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, 1 perceived one that ap- 
peared vilibly larger than the reft : being ftruck with its uncom- 
mon magnitude, I compared it to H Geminorum and the fmall 
ftar in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini, and finding it 
fo much larger than either of them, fufpefted it to be a comet. 
I was then engaged in a feries of obfervations on the parallax 
of the fixed ftars, which I hope foon to have the honour of 
laying before the Royal Society ; and thofe obfervations requiring 
very high powers, I had ready at hand the feveral magnifiers 
of 22 7, 460, 932, 1536, 2010, &c. all which I have fuc- 
cefsfully ufed upon that occafion. The power I had on when 
;I fir ft faw the comet was 227. From experience I knew that 
the diameters of the fixed ftars are not proportionally magnified 
with higher powers, as the planets are ; therefore I now put on 
the powers of 460 and 932, and found the diameter of the 
comet increased in proportion to the power, as it ought to be, 
on a fuppofition of its not being a fixed ftar, while the dia- 
meters of the ftars to which I compared it were not increafed 
in 
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