Donati's Comet, 2 October 1858 Size:XS: 30 x 20cm or the London Almanack for

or the London Almanack for 1904

William Bayly was employed as an assistant by Nevil Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory

Around them figures comment on the lack of attending crowds

The three men were among a number who had deserted fearing that the regiment was about to be sent to America

Donati's Comet, 2 October 1858 Size:XS: 30 x 20cm or the London Almanack forAstronomical study of the head of Donati's Comet observed through the 15 inch refracting telescope at the observatory of Harvard College. Donati's Comet was one of the brightest to be seen in the 19th century and was the first to be photographed (by G. P. Bond and others). It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati (1826 1873). Plate 1 from the monograph An account of Donati's Comet of 1858, by George P. Bond (Cambridge,