The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-28 00:00:00

THE COMET.

M. Chacornac has just communicated to tbe,
' Academy of Sciences a series of astronomical obsotei
vations of the comet, commencing from the 160
ult. The instrument used by him was the grAll
equatorial of MM. Secretan and Eitchenst the
lenses magnifying from 60 to 770 times. On rijo
10th, the nucleus of the comet, observed with if
lowest magnifying power, appeared round and le
brilliant. The coma which surrounded it hsa
feeble lustre, which did not prevent the outline
the nucleus from being well-defined, like a plane'7,
disc. But in proportion as the magnifying Pe,„,'
was increased, the appearance of the comet w 11,03-,
dified, so that, when magnified 770 times, the !0%
cleus assumed the appearance of a nebula hallTo
merely a concentratiion of matter in its centre.,
the naked eye, the nucleus .with its coma seernec`,4
least equal in size to that of the most brilliant sTro,
of the tail of Ursa Major ; nevertheless direct pot
tometrie comparisons have shown that the ratro
brilliant part of the nucleus was inferior in 111 g ht
to the stars of Ursa Major. On that day the lig
of the comet did not offer any visible traces of p°,larisation. The coma presented nothing renioro ,t
able ; it encircled the nucleus uniformly, witil°
presenting any distinct difference of lustre 11
where, and its feeble light was gradually. lost 0,
the dark background of the sky. On the list
the comet offered nothing remarkable, except u'ro
the southern part of the coma was somewhat
brilliant than the northern one. On the lath
brilliancy of the nucleus was photometrically cod,
pared with a star of the seventh or eighth nitig- t
tore
the ; on the 14th, similar observations proved -no
the southern part of the coma continued to be >n
brilliant than the northern one. The comet, C,13
mined with the large telescope, but without all
piece, presented, with Savart's polariscope,
faint traces of polarized light, only perceptib"to
the portion of the tail nearest the nucleus. 011 ej,
19th, the aspect of the comet had slightly changed
the light of the coma having generally become Toilir
intense. The nucleus had a more appreciable '4.'4,
meter, which seemed, even with the lowest inat'ir
fying power, to be surrounded with a slight ne'
losity which was mote sensible in the direction °Poi
posite to the tail. With the magnifying power,/
770, the nucleus did not quite lose its planets),"o
appearance. It did not occupy the centre of t,,0
coma, but was nearer to the northern than to too'
southern limit, but both these limits are much roo
indistinct to be available for measurement.
most luminous part of the nucleus being photoeieo
trically compared to the most brilliant star of Ctiliho
Venatici was found to be about equal in lustre tei-r,
weaker of the two components of that double st:v.
On the 23d the comet presented a remarkable sP,
tacle ; the nucleus was enclosed within three hr„, oot
lucra, consisting of concentric semicircles of differ of
luminous intensity. The two most brilliant,,r
these were traversed by rays which were alt"ot
nately luminous and dull. The nucleus was
quite in the centre, but rather removed towardsoo.4
northern side, the coma there continuing to be i
to
luminous than the southern one. Lastly, cle9vore
the nucleus, a fourth involucrum was seen, In
a.
luminous still than the preceding ones, and aligie
rently issuing from the nucleus spiral form. OnAecl,
25th this involucrum was found to have expan",
increasing its distance from the nucleus, whir be
fifth involucrum was being formed exactly like t
0
fourth ; two more were gradually disengaged fre),
the nucleus between Sept. 25 and Oct. 8. The silceoo
was very brilliant, and yielded polarised light.
pita
the 6th Oct. four small luminous clouds were sP,.l%.ii•
over the surface of the sixth involucrum, the ro
lianoy of which was uniformly distributed i.
on sides of the axis of the tail. On the 9th the 4';cl
nous arc forming the seventh involucrum displace
a small black spot, of a triangular form. ""
„.
through the large telescope, this spot had the to
pearance of a rent in the involucrum, the I,lf-0,0
and the nucleus being both deformed. The 'For.
was distributed equally around the radius lreerre-
passing through the black spot, and at its e%
mity it formed a kind of protuberance. This Pxth
tuberance was equally remarkable on the nth® The light of the involucra and of
nucleus had diminished, in intensity.

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