Messier, Charles; Phil. Trans. LIV, 151 (1764)

XXVII. A Table of the Places of the Comet of 1764 discovered at the Observatory of the Marine at Paris, the 3rd of January, about 8 o'clock in the Evening, in the Constellation of the Dragon, concluded from its Situation observed with regard to the Stars: By Monsier Charles Messier, Astronomer at the Depot of the Plans of the Marine of France, at Paris.

Read May 17, 1764.

         True time. mean time  R.ascension Northern   Longitude   Northern
                                observed.  declinati-  observed   Latitude
 1764                                      on observ.             observed
         h  '  "    h  '  "    d   '  "    d  '  "    d   '  "    d  '  "

Jan. 3    9 24 33    9 29  9   236 29 16   58 32 58   281 37 16   72 53 48
         15  5  4   15  9 47   239 45 31   58 51 29   284 49  7   74 22 13
         18 48 55   18 53 42   241 56  1   59  2 54   287  9 14   75 19 50
    10   16 10 39   16 18 28   305 57 17   44 23 10   329  0 38   60 41 41
         18 33 53   18 41 44   306 22  2   44  6 14   329 15 54   60 18 20
    11    6 43 27    6 51 31   308 14 21   42 45 45   330 21 59   58 28 49
          7 30 54    7 38 59   308 20 17   42 42 35   330 26 19   58 23 58
         18 28 33   18 36 48   309 50 42   41 22 54   331  7 31   56 42  7
    14   17  7 58   17 17 22   316 59 44   34 37 55   334 23 15   48  8 16
         18 32 53   18 42 18   317  5 44   34 30 37   334 25 22   47 59 50
    15    5 43 14    5 52 48   317 53 29   33 39 23   335  8 47   47  6 48
          7 13 15    7 22 51   317 59 44   33 31 50   335 20 11   47  1 47
    16    6 35 19    6 45 15   319 28 52   31 51 34   335 22 51   44 44 33
          7 26 11    7 35 28   319 32 37   31 48 41   335 24 58   44 40 44
    18    5 40 32    5 51  8   321 52 36   28 45 54   336  9 39   41  4  3
          7  4 45    7 15 22   321 56 21   28 40 52   336 10 49   40 58  8
    19    7 42  8    7 53  4   322 57  8   27 17 25   336 29 47   39 19 57
    20    6 50 20    6 50 20   323 46 38   26  5 33   336 43 22   37 56 17
    22    5 49 50    6  1 38   325  9 52   23 49  1   337  0 56   35 20 54
          6 11 16    6 23  4   325 10 22   23 47 57   337  0 57   35 19 45
    29    5 50 59    6 12  8   328  9 59   17 28 48   337  7 46   28 25  8
    30    6  2 52    6 16 28   328 23 44   16 42 10   337  1 12   27 36 59
Feb. 4    5 57 53    6 12  8   329 17 41   13 11 38   336 26 10   24  2 24
     7    6 30 23    6 44 54   329 33 51   11  6 15   335 50 20   22  0  9
     8    6 16 20    6 30 54   329 39 35   10 26 47   335 41 16   21 21 25
    11    6 14 49    6 29 28   329 41 27    9  2 46   335 10  5   20  2 34
I have the honour to send you likewise the elements of the theory of this comet, which monsiers Pingré has deducted from my first observations, as follows.

The ascending node: ------- 3s 29d 20' 6"
Inclination: ----------------------- 53d 54' 19"
Place of perihelium: --------- 16d 11' 48"
Logarithm of perihelion distance: 9.751415.

Passage by the perihelium 12 February at 10h 29' mean time in the meridian of Paris. The motion retograde.

Remark: [hf] In modern notation, the elements of this comet, dubbed 1764 Messier, read:
Ascending Node: 104.852 deg, Inclination: 127.093 deg, Length of Perihelion: 122.685 deg, Perihelion Distance: 0.555216 AU, Perihelion Pasage: 1764 Feb 13.0710


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