page_title: Comet Donati
section_title: Discovery and observations
hierarchical_section_title: Comet Donati / Discovery and observations
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram of the Comet of 1858 Discovered by Donati, June 2nd. In the 19th century there were a number of spectacular or anticipated comets visible to the naked eye that generated significant popular as well as specialist interest. This popular interest and the commercial opportunities it provided is illustrated by this diagram, which responded to the discovery of a new comet by Giovani Battista Donati on 2 June 1858. It made its nearest approach to Earth on 10 October 1858, just five days after this print was published. This diagram was based on observations by John Russell Hind (1823-1895), Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac Office, and Richard Farley, Chief Assistant at the NAO. The central dial can be moved round to calculate the position of the comet against the background of the principal constellations and text on the card gives instructions to the user. Diagram of the Comet of 1858 Discovered by Donati, June 2nd.
context_page_description: Comet Donati, or Donati's Comet, formally designated C/1858 L1 and 1858 VI, is a long-period comet named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati who first observed it on June 2, 1858. After the Great Comet of 1811, it was the most brilliant comet that appeared in the 19th century. It was also the first comet to be photographed.
context_section_description: Donati first observed the comet on 2 June from the Florence Observatory: it was initially visible as a small nebula-like object of magnitude 7 near the "head" of Leo. By mid-August it had brightened sufficiently to be visible to the naked eye.
  In September it passed into Ursa Major. For much of its apparition it occupied a unique position (among great comets) in the sky and was particularly well placed for Northern Hemisphere viewers.
  It was nearest the Earth on October 10, 1858, and for much of October was a brilliant object with a long, scimitar-like dust tail and prominent gas tail. It remained a naked-eye object until November for Southern Hemisphere observers. The final observation was by William Mann, chief assistant at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, who detected it as a faint nebulosity on March 4, 1859.
  During its apparition the comet was particularly closely studied by the astronomer George Phillips Bond and his father William Cranch Bond. G.P. Bond incorporated these observations and those of many other astronomers into a monograph, "An Account of the Great Comet of 1858", which remains his most important scientific work and for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, being the first American to receive the award.
caption: Diagram for locating the comet, printed a week before nearest approach.
exif: {}