C/1861 J1

The Great Comet of 1861, C/1861 J1 official name, was a comet that was visible for about three months with the naked eye. He is one of eight comets of the 19th century, which were referred to as the Great Comet.

He was discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia like at an apparent brightness of 4 on May 13, 1861 a month before his perihelion on June 11. It was not until the 29th of June he was visible in the northern hemisphere of the earth.

This comet interacted with the earth in a previously observed manner. In the two days at its closest approach to Earth with only 0.133 astronomical units, the Earth passed through the tail of the comet. The brightness of the comet was so large that objects at night threw in his light shade, and the comet was visible even in the daytime.

From mid-August, the comet was no longer with the naked eye, but by May 1862 in telescopes. The orbit determination showed that the comet moves in an elliptical orbit with a period of about 400 years of the sun.