Cometa biography
Cometa biography meaning...
Comet Donati
Non-periodic comet
Not to be confused with C/1855 L1 (Donati).
This article is about the "Great Comet of 1858".
Cometa biography
For other comets discovered by Giovanni Battista Donati, see Comet Donati (disambiguation).
Comet Donati, or Donati's Comet, formally designatedC/1858 L1 and 1858 VI, is a long-periodcomet named after the ItalianastronomerGiovanni Battista Donati who first observed it on June 2, 1858.
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.
Discovery and observations
Donati first observed the comet on 2 June from the Florence Observatory: it was initially visible as a small nebula-like object of magnitude 7 near the "head" of Leo.[3] By mid-August it had brightened sufficiently to be visible to the naked eye.[4]
In September it passed into Ursa Major.
For much of its apparition it occupied a unique position (among great comets) i