A SOUTHERN COMET.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17936, 3 December 1923, Page 8

A SOUTHERN COMET.

PROBABLY A STRANGER. (smciai. TO ""raa MUMW.") WELLINGTON, December. 1. A comet, invisible to the unaided eye, and probably a stranger in the sense that it is not an old ono returned, has been discovered by a Wanganui observer, Mr Moorghead, who is a member of the. New Zealand Astronomical Society. The discovery was reported by liim to Dr. Adams, the Government Astronomer, by a telegram dispatched last night. JEba message reads: "Comet in field with £j> silon 2 Arae; motion westerly; magnitude 7 to 8." The star referred to as marking the region in which the comet was seen is about half-way between Beta Triangula? Australis and Theta Scoxpii, which are known to most people who study the heavens. The position is unfortunately poor for -obserwation, as it is low down on the southern half of the sky. It is, in fact directly under the South Pole at midnight to-night. Those who have telescopes with circles can locate the position from the following particulars:—Right Ascension, 16 hours 55 minutes; South Declination, 53 degrees 6 minutes.