Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-07-08

tune to discover, Ou uie VI" "
1878, q very remarkable comet whose
per;odic revelation round the sua is found
q be less than IS years, being nearly
the same as that Of Haliey's well known
c,m.t Of 1859. This comet appeared
like a nebu,a. or 4 small collection Of
.hinin. matter, and vas so extremely
amt that it could no, be sern except
with telescope. 1. passed, on the so'h
Of April, 1915, directly over star OF
the ninth magnitude, (which is Invisible
TO the naked eye) without ecllPslng IT.
he star being seen distinctly in the te-
lescope directly through the densest part
# The body Of the comet. 1t was Visl,
bic from the 9th Of March, to the el't OF
August, 1915, during which time it des'
or b d an apparent area Of 1862. Its ele.
men,s have been computed BY several
persons, ;ticularly by Oilers, Gauss,
Reese, and Nicola. The calculation Of
Bessel is nearly as follows:
Time Of passing the per1helion, April Co.
1915. Paris tine.
Longitude Of the ascending
rnde, % %
Incl ,.tio, of the orbit TO
the eclp., 44'@S.'''
distance from the perihe!ion
20 the ascending node, oo''o'Z2'
Log. OF least distance, O.oooeios
Eccentricitv (mean dist.=l) 0.9Sl2l96S
Mean dist fror sun (earth',
dist from 81. =D E.eSseS
Periodic rev, luton, "a years, Is days.
MORON direct.
The :ema kabie success Of nr. Oiber',
in the discovery of these small heavenly
bodies. has induced Lindenau to give
him the appe;lation of the Columbus
of the Planetary World; )" and the Ger
man tronome-s lave generally attached
his name % this comet.
The irdeiatigabIe Bessel has alieady
computed the effect of the attraction OF
all the planet, during the next reroiati"n
nf the comet, and e. DIS it will be shor.
tered s24 days. and he predict. the time
OF IFS return t" the pcrihe!ion TO b.. 9th Of
February, 1887, hi. may be consider.
ed a. tie only comet, except llalley's,
whose periodical evolution is reu knoan.
The great attention Of the Germans to
prcc ical as ronOmy is placed in a strong
/ int OF vier Be the recollection that this
remarkable conner, AID four out Of fire
Of the new pla' e's. we're discovered by
Germans. HerseheI "a german BY birth
Though resident in Eng'aad) discovered
the planet that bears his name. but which
is mere generally known by tie name OF
Uranus; Pallss ard Fests were disco
vered By DR. Olbsrs, Of Bremen. and ju.
no By Dir. HARDING, Of lilicn.hal; TIE
ether planet, Ceres, was discovered in
Italy, bs NJ Pazzi. In addition tn this
we may a'so observe, that Lindenau
makes an estimate of the number of as.
tronomsr- now living in Europe, who
have sufficient skill to manage the most
difficult par!s Of The calculation cf the dis
'urbing Attractive forces Of the heavenly
bod.e. upon each ether. and Sufficient
patience aaG perseverance to complete !
task Gi his kind when once begun TIL.
number lie make, very small, being only
thIrty.tro, OF upon an average. about
F" one frr SIR millions It inhabi ants
&c this small number, he assigns to Ger
many !hriceu. 70 Italy eight, 10 France
four, TO Great Britain tteo. TO Spain and
Portugal i,c0, and all the noItherr Eu-
r,pcan Nations three; and this is pro
baby pretty accurate estimate; from
which It will appear that Germany alone
.os.es>es more eminent astronomers of
tina, description than can tie found in all
tie natians Of France, Great Britain,
spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and
and Russia, taken together. B.
Communicated for the y. 7. E. Post. I
(CGPY)
Treasury Department,
Comptrolie > Office. 25ih June, 1918.
.NrunSx CT InuN nLEEp ESQ