Abstract
ON Oct. 14 occurs the centenary of the death of the French astronomer Jean Louis Pons, who in his day was famous as a discoverer of comets. Born at Des Peyres, Hautes Alpes, on Dec. 24, 1761, he entered Marseilles Observatory in 1789, in 1819 became director of a newly founded observatory at Marlia, near Lucca, and in 1825 director of the observatory of the museum at Florence, where he died. Between 1801 and 1827 he discovered no fewer than thirtyseven comets. One of these, discovered on Nov. 26, 1818, when Pons was at Marseilles, now called after Encke, was shown to have a period of only 3¼ years, and its return on May 24, 1822, as Encke predicted, was observed by Dunlop at the observatory of Sir Thomas Brisbane at Parramatta. This was the second instance, Halley's being the first, of the recognised return of a comet. The comet found by Pons on July 20, 1812, was also studied by Encke, who determined its period as 71 years. It was rediscovered by Brooks in America on Sept. 1, 1883.
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[News and Views]. Nature 128, 610–612 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128610a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128610a0