Donati's Comet of 1858, illustration. Discovered in June of 1858 by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati (1826-1873), this comet reached it

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Donati's Comet of 1858, illustration. Discovered in June of 1858 by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati (1826-1873), this comet reached its closest point to the Earth on 10 October 1858. Many drawings and artworks were made of this comet, one of the brightest and most spectacular of the 19th century and the first to be photographed. Comets are icy bodies from the outer solar system that boil and form a bright tail of gas and dust as they approach the Sun. Artwork from 'The Cycle of Celestial Objects continued at the Hartwell Observatory to 1859' (1860) by British astronomer William Henry Smyth (1788-1865).

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Size: 5031px × 3835px
Photo credit: © ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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