Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10098
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Donati’s Comet, 2 October 1858
Date
1858
Creator
James W. Watts (American) , Engraver
After
George Phillips Bond (1825 - 1865, American) , Astronomer
Object type
Library reference
Tracts/X188/1
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 238mm
width (print): 183mm
width (print): 183mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Astronomical study of the head of Donati’s Comet observed through the 15-inch refracting telescope at the observatory of Harvard College.
The author describes the comet on this day: “The nucleus...was unusually bright, and rounded on the side toward the sun. An increase of brilliancy in the nucleus was afterwards recognized as the precursor of a fresh eruption from its surface...There were three dark openings in the innermost envelope, between which it was intersected with bright rays. In Plate I the engraver has given an eminently successful representation of the comet as it appeared in the field of the great refractor.”
Donati’s Comet was one of the brightest to be seen in the 19th century and was the first to be photographed (by G.P.Bond and others). It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati (1826-1873).
Plate 1 from the monograph An account of Donati’s Comet of 1858, by George P. Bond (Cambridge, Mass., John Bartlett, 1858). ” Inscribed: “PLATE I. Drawn by G.P.Bond. Engraved by J.W.Watts. Comet of Donati Oct. 2nd 1858.”
The author describes the comet on this day: “The nucleus...was unusually bright, and rounded on the side toward the sun. An increase of brilliancy in the nucleus was afterwards recognized as the precursor of a fresh eruption from its surface...There were three dark openings in the innermost envelope, between which it was intersected with bright rays. In Plate I the engraver has given an eminently successful representation of the comet as it appeared in the field of the great refractor.”
Donati’s Comet was one of the brightest to be seen in the 19th century and was the first to be photographed (by G.P.Bond and others). It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati (1826-1873).
Plate 1 from the monograph An account of Donati’s Comet of 1858, by George P. Bond (Cambridge, Mass., John Bartlett, 1858). ” Inscribed: “PLATE I. Drawn by G.P.Bond. Engraved by J.W.Watts. Comet of Donati Oct. 2nd 1858.”
Associated place