SECTION I

Summary

Modern astronomers were generally agreed that the ancient accounts of comets were greatly exaggerated; for, said they, since we have had careful and scientific observers, the appalling comets of antiquity have disappeared. What then shall we say of a comet in the nineteenth century, rivaling the noonday splendor of the sun?

On Tuesday, the 28th of February, 1843, a brilliant body resembling a comet, situated near the sun, was seen in broad daylight, by numerous observers in various parts of the world. It was seen in each of the New England States (except, perhaps, Rhode Island), in Delaware, at Halifax, N. S., in Mexico, in Italy, and it is said also in the East and West Indies. It was seen in New England as early as half-past seven in the morning, and continued till after 3 P.M., when the sky became considerably obscured by clouds and haziness. The appearance was that of a luminous globular body with a short train—the whole taken together being found by measurement about one degree in length. The head of the comet, as observed by the naked eye, appeared circular; its light equal to that of the moon at midnight in a clear sky; and its apparent size about one eighth the area of the full moon. Some of the observers compared it to a small cloud strongly illuminated by the sun. The train was of a paler light, gradually diverging from the nucleus, and melting away into the brilliant sky. An observer at Woodstock, Vt., viewed it through a common three feet telescope.