--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1842 to 1843. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 4 number: 10 published: 1843-04-01 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“[From the American],” *Times and Seasons* 4, no. 10 (April 1, 1843): 151." printed_title: "[From the American]" source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-04-01_4_10 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n10.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-04-01_4_10 start_page: 151 end_page: 151 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1843 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-04-01_4_10 publication_year: 1843 --- # [From the American] The Comet As the comet has excited considerable attention to-day, the following extract from an article on comets, in Rees' Cyclopœdia, published some thirty years ago. may be of interest. 'The elements of the orbits of the comets in 1264 and 1556, were so nearly the same, that it is very probable it was the same comet; if so, it ought to appear again about the year 1843.' The error here of five years, is a very small one when we consider that the period of this comet is about 292 years, or a little more than that. From its first appearance in 1264 to its second appearance in 1556 was a period of 292 y's Adding to this period the time of its last appearance, viz: 1556 We have for its third appearance the year 1848 The idea that this was the planet Venus, and that the increased size and brightness of it, and its long tail, were owing to the action of the suns rays upon it by reflection or otherwise, we consider absurd. It is far more reasonable to suppose that it is the comet of 1264, and 1556 making a third visit to the earth. By referring to the American Almanac, it will be seen that Venus is now at it's aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun. It was stated recently in a French journel [journal], that the French Astronomers were expecting the appearance of a comet to the earth about this time. Al. Feb. 28.