Case file · Cosmic event
Great September Comet photographed at the Cape
The brilliant Great Comet of 1882, visible in daylight, was photographed from the Royal Observatory at the Cape, among the first good photographs of a comet.
1882 CE · -33.94, 18.48 · status: official
The account
David Gill, Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, had a local photographer help capture the comet. The plates showed so many background stars that Gill went on to lead a photographic survey of the southern sky, the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung.