THE NEW COMET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23879, 1 February 1941, Page 10

THE NEW COMET

RISING HIGHER IN SKY MOTION NOW MORE RAPID With the improvement in the weather and the rapid motion of the new comet into the evening sky, many Aucklanders havo been able to view the celestial visitor under favourable conditions. Although its tail is no longer, it seems to be growing broader and to be attaining an orange tint, while the nucleus itself is growing in brightness, being on Thursday evening about the second magnitude. Until an orbit has been calculated for the comet, it will be unsafe to speculate on just how long it will remain visible in these skies or the exact path it will follow, but from its behaviour over the past week an Auckland astronomer believes that it should remain prominently visible for another fortnight. if the comet maintains its present course it should pass during next week over the constellation Cetus and reach the celestial equator, each day attaining a higher position in the evening skies, while not being visible in the morning hours. The daily motion of five and three-quarter degrees at the time of discovery was rapid for a comet, but it has now attained a daily motion of eight and three-quarter degrees, a fact which not only indicates that the comet is near the earth, but also that it is drawing closer. On this assumption it may be expected that its present brightness will be maintained for another week at least. It may be seen in the south-south-west between 5.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. OBSERVATION IN SYDNEY COMET CLEAJU.Y DISCERNIBLE SYDNEY, Jan. 31 The Now South Wales Government astronomer states that a new comet, known here as Skjellerup's comet, is now clearly discernible in the south-south-western sky in the early evenings. It has a long tail, streaming almost directly upward. The comet is named after its discoverer, an amateur astronomer in Melbourne, Mr. J. F. Skjellerup. The details given in the cablegram make it. clear that the comet discovered in Australia is identical with that discovered in Auckland by Mr. R. Mcintosh. Since Mr. Skjellerup's discovery preceded that of Mr. Mcintosh, the comet will be provisionally known as the Skjollerup-Melntosh Comet. Reports may yet be received from South Africa or South America of further independent discoveries, after which the name of the comet may require further amendment. The fact that the new comet is known in Australia only as Skjellerup's Comet probably arises from the delay at Carter Observatory in acquainting other countries of the New Zealand discovery.