The Comets: A Descriptive Treatise Upon Those Bodies. With a Condensed Account of the Numerous Modern Discoveries Respecting Them; and a Table of All the Calculated Comets, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time

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J.N. Parker and son, 1852 - 184 pages
 

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Page 116 - One of the grandest comets mentioned in history is that which made its appearance in the middle of the year 1264. It is recorded in terms of wonder and astonishment by nearly all the historians of the age : no one then living had seen any to be compared to it. It was at the height of its splendour in the month of August, and during the early part of September. When the head was just visible above the eastern horizon in the early morning sky, the tail stretched out past the mid-heaven towards the...
Page 52 - April 1145 a great comet is mentioned by European historians, which is one of the most certain of our series of returns. There is considerable probability in favour of the appearance of the comet in the year of the Norman Conquest, or in April 1066. The famous body which astonished Europe in that year is minutely, though not very clearly, described in the Chinese annals ; and the path there assigned to it is found to agree with elements which bear a great resemblance to those of Halley's comet. In...
Page 9 - ... comets which we have enumerated, at least four others have been seen in the daytime; all, however, under peculiar circumstances. Seneca relates that during a great solar eclipse, 63 years before our era, a large comet was observed not far from the sun. " Philostorgius says that on the 19th of July, AD 418, when the sun was eclipsed and stars were visible, a great comet, in the form of a cone, was discovered near that luminary, and was afterwards observed during the nights...
Page 38 - Comets of 1531 and 1607 he was immediately struck by their similarity, and suspected from^ '• the like situation of their planes and perihelions that the comets which appeared in the years 1531, 1607, and 1682 Pig. 41. HALLEY'S COMET, JAN. 9, 1683 (N. s.), SHEWING LUMINOUS SECTOR. (Drawn by HeveliusS) were one and the same comet that had made three revolutions in its elliptical orbit".
Page 66 - Encke conjectured the existence of a thin ethereal medium, sufficiently dense to produce an effect on a body of such extreme tenuity as the comet in question, but incapable of exercising any sensible influence on the movements of the planets. "This contraction of the orbit must be continually progressing, if we suppose the existence of such a medium ; and we are naturally led to inquire, What will be the final...
Page 52 - ... assigned to it is found to agree with elements which bear a great resemblance to those of Halley's comet. In England it was considered the forerunner of the victory of William of Normandy, and was looked upon with universal dread. It was equal to the Full Moon in size, and its train, at first small, increased to a wonderful length. Almost every historian and writer of the...
Page 41 - Delisle, then director of the observatory at Paris, would not allow him to give notice to the astronomers of that city, that the long-expected body was in sight, and Messier remained the only observer before the comet was lost in the sun's rays. Such a discreditable and selfish concealment of an interesting discovery, is not likely to sully again the annals of astronomy.
Page 117 - Some rough approximations to the elements have been attempted in the first instance by Mr. Dunthorne, in the middle of the last century, and subsequently by M. Pingre, the well-known French writer upon the history of comets.
Page 116 - China, the tail was not only 1000 long, but appeared curved in the form of a sabre. Its movement was from Leo, through Cancer and Gemini into Orion. It continued visible until the beginning of October, historians generally agreeing in dating its last appearance on the 2nd of October, or on the night of the death of Pope Urban IV, of which event it seems to have been considered the precursor.
Page 22 - ... and was accompanied by a tail usually 45° in length, but on one occasion measuring 65°. It approached within 96,000 miles of the sun, that is, 1000 times nearer than we are, and then passed away, not to return, probably, for 376 years. Its nucleus was estimated at 5000 miles in diameter, and it " exhibited a brilliant train that on different dates was found to attain the enormous distance of 150, 180 and 200 millions of miles from the head ; yet this wonderful appendage was formed in less than...

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