Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10403
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Comet of 1742
Date
1742
Creator
Thomas Wright (1711 - 1786, British) , Astronomer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 532mm
width (drawing): 364mm
width (drawing): 364mm
Subject
Description
Diagram showing the geocentric motion of a comet [now designated C/1742/C1] using observations made 24 February-7 March 1742. According to the author, the trajectory was drawn “after ye method lade down by Sr. Isaac Newton in the third book of the Principia...” The figure is headed “A graphical construction of the comet’s geocentric motion, determining its mean perigaeum” [perigee]
Figure appended to a letter, Thomas Wright, St. James’s, 7 April 1742, to the Honourable Mr. Yorke. Not published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Signed lower right “Thos. Wright”.
Thomas Wright was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1735, but was not elected.
Figure appended to a letter, Thomas Wright, St. James’s, 7 April 1742, to the Honourable Mr. Yorke. Not published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Signed lower right “Thos. Wright”.
Thomas Wright was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1735, but was not elected.
Associated place