On observations of the Great Comet of 1807 (C/1807 R1) from India

Abstract

Captain John Warren, the Acting Astronomer at Madras Observatory between 1805 and 1811, observed the Great Comet of 1807 (now C/1807 R1) and computed its orbit. He wrote up his observations in a paper titled ―An account of the comet, which appeared in the months of September, October and November 1807‖ and sent this to England, but it was not published at the time. This paper has now been published in this issue of the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society), and the present paper discusses Warren‘s observations and others made from the Indian Subcontinent. It turns out that Comet C/1807 R1 was first sighted on 20 September in Bengal, making this an independent discovery from India. Notably, this was the first comet observed at Madras Observatory following its inception.