Book contents
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- SECTION I COMETS WHOSE RETURN HAS BEEN OBSERVED
- SECTION II HALLEY'S COMET
- SECTION III ENCKE'S COMET; OR, THE SHORT PERIOD COMET
- SECTION IV BIELA'S OR GAMBART'S COMET
- SECTION V FAYE'S COMET
- SECTION VI BRORSEN'S COMET
- SECTION VII D'ARREST'S COMET
- SECTION VIII TUTTLE'S COMET
- SECTION IX WINNECKE'S PERIODICAL COMET
- SECTION X TEMPEL'S SHORT PERIOD COMET
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
SECTION V - FAYE'S COMET
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- SECTION I COMETS WHOSE RETURN HAS BEEN OBSERVED
- SECTION II HALLEY'S COMET
- SECTION III ENCKE'S COMET; OR, THE SHORT PERIOD COMET
- SECTION IV BIELA'S OR GAMBART'S COMET
- SECTION V FAYE'S COMET
- SECTION VI BRORSEN'S COMET
- SECTION VII D'ARREST'S COMET
- SECTION VIII TUTTLE'S COMET
- SECTION IX WINNECKE'S PERIODICAL COMET
- SECTION X TEMPEL'S SHORT PERIOD COMET
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
Summary
First comet whose periodicity, without comparison with previous dates, has been determined by calculation and verified by observation–M. Le Verrier demonstrates that it has nothing in common with the comet of Lexell–Slight eccentricity of Faye's comet and great perihelion distance–Dates of its return–Perturbations in the movements of Faye's comet inexplicable by gravitation alone : a problem to be solved
A communication by Arago, published in 1844, in the Comptes Rendus of the Academy of Sciences, gives an account of the first researches relative to the fourth periodical comet, which we here subjoin :–
‘This body was discovered at the Observatory of Paris by M. Faye, on November 22, 1843. This young astronomer hastened to calculate its parabolic elements. But as the number of observations increased M. Faye perceived that a parabola was quite inadequate to represent the series of positions occupied by the comet, and announced that he should determine its elliptic orbit, as soon as the state of the sky should have permitted him to pursue his observations of the new comet in regions so far removed from those in which it had first appeared that no doubt could possibly exist as to the certainty of his results. M. Faye therefore applied himself to the multiplying of observations, which had become extremely difficult to obtain, on account of the indistinctness of the comet. Matters were in this stage when a letter from Schumacher informed him that Dr. Goldschmidt, a pupil of Gauss, had already calculated an elliptic orbit, having used the observations made at Paris on November 24, and those of December 1 and 9, made at Altona.’
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The World of Comets , pp. 116 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1877