The Great Comet b 1882

Abstract

THIS comet was visible here with the naked eye up to February 28. I so saw it myself on the evening of that day. Owing partly to cloudy weather, partly to moonlight, I had not seen it for ten days or a fortnight previously, but found it on that evening with little difficulty and without any optical help. In my telescope (4-in.) it appeared, roughly, like a long, flat-sided, oval nebula, the central part of the major axis being the brightest of the whole. Two cloudy evenings intervened, and on the following night (March 3) I could not see it with the naked eye, even after finding it with the telescope and knowing exactly where to look, and though the optical condition of the air seemed the same. During April I saw it, with the same telescope, on sixteen evenings, cloudy weather and moonlight interfering on the others. In the present month (May) I saw it five times, that is, up to the 6th certainly, and I believe I saw it on the 9th, but decreasing visibility and increasing moonlight prevented verification. I have just received a somewhat larger instrument (5-in.), with which after the moon has passed I hopeto see it again.