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
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- SECTION I COMETS WHOSE RETURN HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY OBSERVATION
- SECTION II INTERIOR COMETS, OR COMETS OF SHORT PERIOD, THAT HAVE NOT YET RETURNED
- SECTION III COMETS OF MEAN PERIOD
- SECTION IV COMETS OF LONG PERIOD
- 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 II - INTERIOR COMETS, OR COMETS OF SHORT PERIOD, THAT HAVE NOT YET RETURNED
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
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- SECTION I COMETS WHOSE RETURN HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY OBSERVATION
- SECTION II INTERIOR COMETS, OR COMETS OF SHORT PERIOD, THAT HAVE NOT YET RETURNED
- SECTION III COMETS OF MEAN PERIOD
- SECTION IV COMETS OF LONG PERIOD
- 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
Comets lost or strayed: the comet of 1743; the comet of Lexell, or 1770; perturbations caused by Jupiter; in 1767 the action of Jupiter shortens the period, and in 1779 produces an opposite effect–Comet of De Vico; short period comets of 1783, 1846, and 1873.
During the month of February 1743 a comet was observed at Paris, Bologna, Vienna, and Berlin whose parabolic elements were calculated by Struyct and Lacaille. A mathematician of our time, M. Clausen, identified it as a comet of short period, performing its revolution in five years and five months. Is this, as has been supposed, the same comet that was seen in November 1819? If so, its period must have greatly changed, since the calculations of Encke assign to the latter a period of about four years and ten months.
The comet of which we are now about to speak is celebrated in the history of astronomy. The following extract from a memoir by M. Le Verrier gives an account of the circumstances of its first apparition:–
‘ Messier perceived, during the night of the 14–15th of June, 1770, a nebulosity situated amongst the stars of Sagittarius, but not discernible by the naked eye ; it was a comet first coming into view. On the 17th of June it appeared surrounded by an atmosphere the diameter of which was about 5′ 23″. In the centre appeared a nucleus; its light was bright, like that of the stars. Messier estimated its diameter at 22 seconds.
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- Information
- The World of Comets , pp. 133 - 140Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1877