The San Francisco call., 1910-11-17
FAYE'S FAMOUS
Comet IS FOUND
Cerulli's Discovery Is of the
Greatest Astronomical
Importance
Computations Are Made at the
Students Observatory of
State University
BY A. o. LEUSCHNER
Director of the Students, Observatory,
University of California

BERKELEY, Nov. 16.-The comet
| discovered by DR.. V. Cerulli of the pri-
vate observatory Collurania. at Teramo
Italy, and first observed by Prof E.
| M1lioseyitch, director of the Royal OBJ
| servatory of the Collegium Romanum
| al Rome, November 9, is identical with
Fayes famous comet CerulIf's dis
coVery Is therefore Of the greatest as
| tronomlcal Importance. The comet was
announced as a new one, but computa-
tions Just completed at the students
observatory by w. F. Meyer, instructor
| In astronomy, and Miss Sophia Levy, a
senior student of the university, on the
OASIS or Leuschner's short methods OF
| computing orbits, have established be-
| yond doubt the identity of the two
comets. This result has been derived
from the first observation by Millose-
witch on November g. and two subse-
quent observations made by J. B. Eppes
| or the United States naval observatory
at washington, and r. Young of the
Lick observatory November II and Ia,
respectively. These observations were
| received by telegraph
IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED
AS is usual with a new comet, Mr..
Meyer and Miss Levy first computed a
parabolic orbit, but this proved unsat-
lsfactory- The similarity of some of
the parabolic elements of the new
comet to the corresponding elements of
Faye's comet then led me to suspect
the identity of Cerulli's with Faye's
comet, and to announce this identifica-
ton. Meyer and Miss Levy then con-
tinued their solution without assump-
ton regarding the shape of the orbit.
and obtained results which confirmed
the Identification
Faye's comet is probably the best
known cometary member of the solar
system next to Halleys and Encke's
comets According to Dr. E. Strum-
gren, director of the observatory of the
University of Copenhagen it was due
at per1helion in June, 1908, at its last
return, but was not found probably on
account of It's unfavorable position in
the sky. Faye discovered his comet at
the Paris observatory November %,
1S43. Leverrier traced it back as a
member of the solar system to 1747,
and predicted its next return.
REDIsCOVERED BY CHALLIs
1t was rediscovered by Challis at
Cambridge in 1850 and again observed
in 1856, 1873, 1880, 1883 and 1895. Ac-
cording to Stromgren's elements of
1903. which gave to Faye's comet a
helion October "a of this year. Cerullis
helen October "a of this year Cerullrs
comet passed perihelion November IL.
This difference in perihelion time is
fully accounted for by the uncertainty
of a preliminary orbit and by the per-
turbations of the major planets.
AS Faye's comet failed of rediscov-
cry in 1903, it was feared that it mi ght
not be rediscovered at subsequent re-
turns unless elaborate computations
were undertaken to predict its future
path. To encourage investigators to
attack this enormous task, the Royal
Academy of Sciences of Denmark in
1906 announced this investigation as
subject for prize competition. The
chief prize offered BY the academy for
a successful solution of the problem
was its gold medal, but so far no re-
suits have appeared The Identification
of Cerulli's with Faye's comet renders
the investigation referred to unneces-
sary, at least for some time to come.