THE COMET
There is good ground for believing that the brilliant comet now visible in the heavens is identical with the great comet of 1843. Sir J. Herschell is led to assume a period of 21 years for that comet. Calculating backwards for many years, he finds that these periods were remarkable for great comets —those of 1668 and and 1689 being included. He is then led to predict its return at the latter end of 1864 or commencement of 1865, in which case, he says " it will bo visible in the Southern Hemisphere." The following elements of the comet of 1843 are from authentic sources:— Perihelion passage, February 27, 1843. Longitude of Perihelion, 278deg. 39min. _ Longitude of Ascending Node, ldeg. 12min. Inclination of Orbit to the Plane of the Ecliptic 35deg. 41min. Perihelion distance (diameter of the Earth's Orbit being 1), 00055. The comet two nights ago was in the constellation of Grus, the tail terminating in the constellation of Tucan. Although it appears to be on the wane it wil* probably be yisible for some time to come.
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Bibliographic details
Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 759, 31 January 1865, Page 3
Word Count
180THE COMET Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 759, 31 January 1865, Page 3
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