Sky and Telescope - June 2017 - 36

A Tale of One Word

p COMET'S PATH Messier published this chart showing the track of
the Comet of 1779, also called Bode's Comet (today, C/1779 A1 Bode).
In 1779 Messier noticed six "nebulae" near its path. He later put them
in his catalog as M56 and M57 in Lyra, and M58, M59, M60, and M61 in
Virgo. The chart was not published until 1782, so Messier also marked
the positions in Virgo and Coma Berenices of 11 objects observed in
1781, later cataloged as M84-M91 and M98-M100.

I was informed about the apparition of the Comet of 1779
only by the Gazette de France, which arrived here on February
9th, in which Monsieur Messier announced the discovery he
had just made. . . . On the night of February 9-10, I searched
around midnight; I found the comet by the bend of the left leg
of Hercules.

Indeed, a story about the comet appears in the Gazette de
France for Tuesday, January 26th, and includes the lines:

p COMET NEIGHBORS This detail from Messier's chart shows the path
of the Comet of 1779 as it moved from Cygnus across Lyra into Hercules. Messier first spotted it on January 18th by the astronomical reckoning of the date in his era (counting from noon to noon), or on the morning
of January 19th by civil date (midnight to midnight). That same morning
he discovered, between the Swan and the Lyre, the cloud marked "Neb
1779": the globular cluster M56. On January 31st Messier first noticed,
between β and γ Lyrae, another "Neb 1779": later M57, the Ring Nebula.

36

J U N E 2 0 1 7 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

The newspaper reached Darquier in the south of France
two weeks later, on February 9th. Such a delay was typical
for the 18th century, according to Gilles Feyel, an expert on
the distribution of early French newspapers.
In his letter to Messier, Darquier detailed the ambitious
observing project he carried out between February 10th and
the end of April. For the sky near the path of the comet,
Darquier created his own catalog with measurements of right
ascension and declination for 270 stars, including many not
included in Flamsteed's catalog - and for one nebula, in
Lyra. Darquier describes ﬁnding this nebula:
In the course of my work, I encountered some nebulae, most of
which are unknown; but one which caught my attention is a

COLLECTION OF D ON OLSON

Monsieur Messier . . . discovered at l'Observatoire de la Marine,
on the 19th of this month, at about ﬁve o'clock in the morning,
a new comet; it appeared near the head of Cygnus, between this
constellation and that of the Lyre. . . .

Sky and Telescope - June 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - June 2017

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