s by the
Great Southern Comet of 1880 was unexpectedly renewed in the following
year.

On the 22nd of May, 1881, Mr. John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales,
scanning the western sky, discerned a hazy-looking object which he felt
sure was a strange one. A marine telescope at once resolved it into two
small stars and a comet, the latter of which quickly attracted the keen
attention of astronomers; for Dr. Gould, computing its orbit from his
first observations at Cordoba, found it to agree so closely with that
arrived at by Bessel for the comet of 1807 that he telegraphed to
Europe, June 1, announcing the unexpected return of that body. So
unexpected that theoretically it was not possible before the year 3346;
and Bessel's investigation was one which inspired and eminently deserved
confidence. Here, then, once more the perplexing choice had to be made
between a premature and unaccountable reappearance and the admission of
a plurality of comets moving nearly in the same path. But in this case
facts proved decisive.

Tebbutt's comet passed the sun, June 16, at a distance of sixty-eight
millions of miles, and became visible in Europe six days later. It was,
in the opinion of some, the finest object of the kind since 1861. In
traversing the constellation Auriga on its _debut_ in these latitudes,
it outshone Capella. On June 24 and some subsequent nights, it was
unmatched in brilliancy by any star in the heavens. In the telescope,
the "two interlacing arcs of light" which had adorned the head of
Coggia's comet were reproduced; while a curious _dorsal spine_ of strong
illumination formed the axis of the tail, which extended in clear skies
over an arc of 20 deg. It belonged to the same "type" as Donati's great
plume; the particles composing it being driven _from_ the sun by a force
twice as powerful as that urging them _towards_ it.[1291] But the
appendage was, for a few nights, and by two observers perceived to be
double. Tempel, on June 27, and Lewis Boss, at Albany (N.Y.), June 26
and 28, saw a long straight ray corresponding to a far higher rate of
emission than the curved train, and shown by Bredikhine to be a member
of the (so-called) hydrogen class. It had vanished by July 1, but made a
temporary reappearance July 22.[1292]

The appendages of this comet were of remarkable transparency.
Small stars shone wholly undimmed across the tail, and a very nearly
central transit of the head over one of the seventh magnitude on