Great Southern Comet of 1880

C/1880 C1
(Great Southern Comet of 1880)

Illustration of the Great Comet of 1880 from a Scientific American article in May 1880
Discovery
Discovery date	1 February 1880
Designations
Alternative designations	1880a 1880 I
Orbital characteristics
Epoch	14 February 1880 (JD 2407759.5)
Observation arc	5 days
Number of observations	7
Orbit type	Kreutz sungrazer
Aphelion	0.0054 AU
Semi-major axis	–520.91 AU
Eccentricity	1.0000103
Avg. orbital speed	575 km/s
Inclination	144.759°
Longitude of ascending node	8.448°
Argument of periapsis	86.685°
Last perihelion	28 January 1880
Earth MOID	0.5541 AU
Jupiter MOID	2.9694 AU
Physical characteristics
Apparent magnitude	3.0 (1880 apparition)

The Great Southern Comet of 1880, formally designated as C/1880 C1 in modern nomenclature, is a comet that became visible in the naked eye throughout the Southern hemisphere in February 1880. It is notable for being classified as a "great comet" not by its apparent magnitude, but by its prominent tail.

Discovery and observations

The comet had no single discoverer, or at least none is known, since all of its initial observations were not first-hand reports. However, it is generally agreed that the comet was first seen on the evening of February 1, 1880 in Australia and New Zealand. The first known sighting of the comet was recorded by Henry C. Russell, the director of the Sydney Observatory, when he received a message from "a certain gentleman living in the northern part of this colony", stating that he "was surprised by a bright streak of light, stretching from the horizon towards the South Pole".