27-09-2005, 05:55 PM
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Technophile
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Camira, Ipswich
Posts: 105
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Quote:
# What was the third discovery of Caroline Herschel?
A: NGC253 (on 23/09/1783). Comet C/1790 A1 (in 1790) is not correct, that was her third comet discovery, but not her third discovery.
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Damn.  I blame Greg Bryant 
Quote:
Comet C/1790 A1 (Herschel)
Caroline's third discovery came on 7th January 1790, with the new comet being reported at a brightness of 7th magnitude. The comet's apparition was quite poor, being seen only on three other days, the last being 21st January. Two days beforehand, Charles Messier described the comet as nebulous with a bright condensation, and compared the comet's brightness to Pegasus' globular cluster M15. On the basis of the observations available, perihelion occurred on 15th January at 0.76 AU.
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