Page:The story of the comets.djvu/300

 APPENDIX II.

following catalogue is supplementary to the catalogue under the same title which appears in the 4th edition of my Handbook of Astronomy. Every now and again one comes across mention of comets (especially in the centuries which have gone) which have escaped the notice of previous inquirers into cometary history. The comets which follow are those which have come, or which have been brought, under my notice during the last 20 years; and it is quite possible that sooner or later some of them may be identified with other comets, ancient or modern.

[1.] 1140.± "Nebuchadnezzar invaded Elam in revenge for the continual plundering expeditions sent out from that country, and a remarkable circumstance is mentioned with respect to this time. When the king was on the expedition an enormous comet appeared, the tail of which stretched like a great reptile from the N. to the S. of the heavens."—(G. Smith, Hist, of Babylonia, S.P.C.K., p. 96.) [This seems to be the same comet as that mentioned in the same connection by Sayce in his Babylonian Inscriptions.]

[2.] 613. A comet was seen in the autumn in the constellation Pih-tau.—(The Chum Tsin quoted in Lindsay's Chrono-Astrolabe.) Pih-tau is Ursa Major.

[3.] 599-600. In the 811th year of the Seleucian Era (or Oct. 599 to Oct. 600) there was seen "in the exact S.W. corner of the heavens a sign which resembled a spear. Some people said of it that it was the besom of destruction, and others said that it was the spear of War".—(Syriac Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite, ed. W. Wright.)

[4.] 635. A Japanese history records a "besom-star which went round and was seen in the E." in January. This may have been a reappearance, after perihelion passage, of a comet mentioned by the Chinese as last seen in Oct. 634, and which this Japanese history also records. The Japanese date of this is "Autumn, 8th month", and the entry is:—"A long star was seen in the S. The people of that time called it a besom-star. Hahaki-boshi or Hōki-boshi is the present name for a comet."—(Month. Not. R.A.S., vol. lxvi. p. 72. Dec. 1905.)