nottingham profile
Discovery of a comet (1847 VI) Using a telescope he discovered what is now called “Miss Mitchell’s Comet” (Comet 1847 VI, according to modern designation is C/1847 T1) in autumn 1847. Some years earlier, King Frederick VI of Denmark established a prize consisting of a gold medal for which discovered a “telescopic comet” (the time it was discovered to the naked eye were essentially). The prize would be awarded to whoever first discovered (it is often noted that comets were discovered by more than one person). She aimed at the achievement of this award, since only one woman had previously been to discover a comet and was Caroline Herschel. There is a temporary question of priority in the discovery of the comet and the astronomer Francesco de Vico used two days later, just before it reported that Maria Mitchell, but in 1848 King Fededico VII.