 Coma and twin tails of the Great Comet of 1823. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Nell de Bréauté Jean-Louis Pons |
| Discovery date | 29 December 1823 |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch | 15 February 1824 (JD 2387306.5) |
| Observation arc | 67 days |
| Number of observations | 200 |
| Perihelion | 0.2267 AU |
| Eccentricity | ~1.000 |
| Inclination | 103.819° |
| 305.505° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 28.487° |
| Last perihelion | 9 December 1823 |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 6.5[2] |
TheGreat Comet of 1823, also designatedC/1823 Y1 orComet De Bréauté-Pons, was a brightcomet visible from December 1823 to April 1824.
It was independently discovered by Nell de Bréauté atDieppe on December 29, byJean-Louis Pons on the morning of December 30, and byWilhelm von Biela atPrague on the same morning.[2] It was already visible to the naked eye when discovered: Pons initially thought he was seeing smoke from a chimney rising over a hill, but continued observing when he noticed it did not change appearance. He was later to note that the comet was, puzzlingly, more easily visible to the naked eye than through a telescope.[2] Biela also noted that it was noticeably brighter than theGreat Comet of 1819 had been.[2]
The comet was particularly known at the time for exhibiting two tails, one pointing away from the Sun and the other (termed an "anomalous tail" byKarl Harding andHeinrich Olbers)[3] pointing towards it.
Caroline Herschel recorded an observation of the comet on January 31, 1824, as the last entry in her observing book.[4]
Pons was also the last astronomer to detect the comet, on April 1, 1824.
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