science · 05 August 1835 · 189 years ago
First sighting of the return of Comet Halley by Father Dominique Dumouchel, director of the Collegio Romano at the Vatican. It is next seen on August 21 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve at the Dorpat Observatory. John Herschel had been expected to find the comet first, as he was at the time in South Africa with his 20 ft focal length reflector – at this time the largest telescope in the world. He finally observes it in October and watches until it reaches perihelion November 16. It reappears in January 1836, and Herschel will be the last person to observe it in May.
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