Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-09-22
From the ". 7. Tribune.
The Comet.

The comet which is now visible in the
nnrth-west0region of the heavens a short time
! after sunset was first discovered on the I'd Of
| last June, by Prof DoNATI, in Florence, Italy
1t was also discovered by HENRY NJ. PARK,
HURST. Esq. of Perth-Amboy, New jersey
June 20. A very striking characteristic OF
this comet was, when first discovered, Its
extremely slow motion. The great distance
of the comet, and the direction of its motion
as seen from the earth combined to render Its
apparent geocentric motion very small In
consequence of its slOwness Of motion, Its
period of visibility will be very great. 1t has
already been visible through telescope
near two months and a half; and it will
probably remain in sight for a considerable
| length of time yet. The head or star OF the
comet appears about equal to star of the
second magnitude; and as it has not yet reach
ed the periheliol (that point nearest TO the
| SUM of its orbit. it will yet be considerably
! brighter. and present rPlendld appearance
| Its tail. as viewed with small telescope
| magnifying about eight times, was about OF
degs. in length on Sunday evening, the 18th
of September. 1t is a well-known fact,
however. that the tail has much greater
| length Immediately after the perinelion
passage than at any other time; and hence
we may expect that its length will be much
more considerable than at present.
This is the fifth comet discovered since the
beginning of 1858, the first of which was
discovered on the 4th of January; but as the
| first four will form the subject for another
article, we will say no more about them here.
The comet now visible will pass its
Notwithstanding to the elements of Mr.,
GEORGE SEARLE, Assistant at the Dudley
| Observatory-on the 18th of September. The
| parabOlc elements of comets orbit are six
| in number, namely: time of perihelion passage,
| longitude of the periheliOn, longitude OF
ascending node inclination of the plane of Its
orbit to the plane of the ecliptic. thep riheliC
| distance, and the direction of its motion. II
the motion be in the same direction around
the sun as the motion of planets, it is said TO
be direct; if in the opposite direction,
| rctrOgrade.
The longitude of the perihelion of this
comet is about 30 deg, and of the ascending
node about 176 deg. The inclination is about
| 6S deg. The periheliOn distance is about 49,
| coo. 900 miles, or little greater than the
mean distance of Mercury from the Sun. Its
motion is retrOgrade, so that its apparent
motion is from right TO left, as seen at this
| time. The velocity Of the comet, when at Its
| periheliOn, will be about 100000 miles per
| hour is distance from the Earth at this
time, roughly estimated. is about 81 100000
miles. Its tail is at least 100000 miles i'll
| length.
Several parabolic elements have been COM
puted, but as these differ considerably from
each other it is thought, with much probabili-
| ty. that the comet moves in an elipse OF
moderate eccentricity, and hence that its
| time of revolution around the sun is not very
| great. The elements correspond with those
of the first comet of 1927, and with those OF
1864. This will make the period Ofrevolution
81 years. The period of SO years compre-
Bonded between 1864 and 1927 will embrace
two returns to its perihelion. The difference
of half year is within the limits ofperturba-
ton. This will make its return, previous to
1927, in 1895. If this be its true period, its
next return may be expected about 1889 or
1890. Time will soon determine these
questions. With this period its mean dis
lance from the will be about the same as
that of Saturn; and when it is in the apheliOn
greatest distance from the SUM of its orbit,
it will be about the mean distance of Uranus.
DAVID TROwBRIDGE.
PERRY CITY, n. Y, Sept. H.
p. S.-The best view of the comet can be
had in the morning, about 81 or o'clock.
The direction of its tail points toward the
north polar star.