Episode 1 of 4

Discovery in Australia

When: 1861-05-13
Where: Windsor, New South Wales, Australia
Part of: Comet C/1861 J1, the Great Comet of 1861, is discovered

John Tebbutt discovered the comet in Windsor, New South Wales, on May 13, 1861, detecting a faint object near Lacaille 1316.

While searching the western sky for comets, Tebbutt detected a faint nebulous object near the star Lacaille 1316 in the constellation Eridanus. The comet had an apparent magnitude of +4 at discovery, one month before perihelion.

Sources

C/1861 J1 (Tebbutt) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-19

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