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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the comet of 1844-45' by J [John Collingwood] Haile

Reference number: AP/28/7

Date: 31 January 1845

Description

Haile shares a series of observations made in Auckland [New Zealand] on the comet of 1844-45, which appeared on the 20th of December 1844 and disappeared on the 30th of January. He describes how its most remarkable feature was that during its greatest brilliancy, the nucleus was not surrounded by the nebulous matter, but was situated at the very extremity of the head, and at times even appeared quite detached.

Followed by a diagram showing the movement of the comet across the sky. Marked on back as 'Archives 2nd April 1846 S H C [Samuel Hunter Christie].

Subject: Astronomy

Received 11 July 1845. Communicated by Charles Terry.

An abstract of the paper was published in volume 5 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the comet of 1844-45'.

Reference number
AP/28/7
Earliest possible date
31 January 1845
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
5 pages
Format
Diagram
Manuscript

Creator name

John Collingwood Haile

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Citation

John Collingwood Haile, Unpublished paper, 'On the comet of 1844-45' by J [John Collingwood] Haile, 31 January 1845, AP/28/7, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_28_7/unpublished-paper-on-the-comet-of-1844-45-by-j-john-collingwood-haile, accessed on 07 November 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_28_7/unpublished-paper-on-the-comet-of-1844-45-by-j-john-collingwood-haile

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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