On This Day In History: Comet Donati First Observed By Italian Astronomer – On June 2, 1858

MessageToEagle.com – On June 2, 1858, Comet Donati was first observed by an astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati at Florence, Italy.

After the Great Comet of 1811, it was the most brilliant comet that appeared in the 19th century. It was also the first comet to be photographed. It was nearest the Earth on October 10, 1858.

At first, the Comet Donati was invisible, however, to the naked eye, as it only appeared through the telescope like a faint cloud of light, gradually getting brighter and brighter.

Toward the end of August it began to show signs of developing a tail, and became visible to the eye on August 29^th.

During September and October it greatly increased in size and brilliancy and began to be clearly visible in the western heavens.

After October 10^th, it was only visible in the couthern hemisphere, gradually decreasing in brightness.

Due to its long elliptical orbit, it is estimated that Donati’s Comet will not be seen passing by Earth again until the 4th millennium, more exactly, the comet will probably not return till the year 3858, as its period of revolution is approximately 2000 years.

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