Comet Donati, 1858

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RT has seen falling stars on a few moonless nights, but nothing like this, the appearance of Comet Donati in 1858. It must be a thrilling experience, to see the heavens brought so close to earth.

Wikipedia offers this vignette about Donati:

Abraham Lincoln, then a candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate, sat up on the porch of his hotel in Jonesboro, Illinois to see “Donti’s Comet” on September 14, 1858, the night before the third of his historic debates with Stephen Douglas.

CD was the second brightest comet visible from earth during the 19th century; only the Great Comet of 1811 was brighter.

Lincoln, Douglas, and their generation are likely to preserve the memory of the comet’s beauty inviolate for some time; Comet Donati has an orbital period of 1,739 years.    RT

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p.s. Actually, Comet Donati was the first comet to be photographed, but RT has not been able to find an online copy of the photographs…

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Illustration: Comet Donati, 1858 (published 1888). Author and source: E. Weiss. WikiCmns. Public Domain.

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