Abstract
REISSIG'S COMET (?) OF 1803.—The following particulars of a stellar-looking object, with considerable retrograde motion, were communicated to Bode—at the time the centre of general astronomical correspondence—by Reissig, of Cassel, son of a well-known optician at that place. He stated to Bode that on the morning of Feb. 2, 1803, he perceived with a 30-inch comet-seeker, near the double-star 148 Ophiuchi B. (36 Ophiuchi Fl.), a star of from 5th to 6th magnitude, which he had not remarked on Jan, 28, with a 7-feet reflector, “The star or comet.” under a power of 400, appeared without sensible nebulosity, and somewhat magnified. On the early morning of Feb. 4, the stranger appeared to have moved to the westward. The weather was not clear again till the morning of the 7th, when the object was faint from presence of the full moon, and it was difficult to fix its position. On the 9th it was found near 139 Scorpii B. (25 Scorpii FL.); at 3.2 A.M. it occulted this star, and at 4.9 there was first perceived a space between them. Unfavourable weather following, further observation was prevented. Reissig sent Bode a small chart of the path of the object “between π Ophiuchi and Antares,” and the four following places, from observations with a 3-feet Gregorian reflector and an annular micrometer.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 14, 311 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/014311a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/014311a0