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In his short note about comet on the month 19P Borrelly, Nick states “
The comet was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly at the Marseille Observatory on 1904 December 28.86. I think the discovery instrument was his 18.2-cm Eichens comet seeker but I’d be happy to be corrected if anyone has more details.
So I searched for more information about he instument he discovered the comet with and Marseille Observatory. It turned out to be quite and unusual design of comet seeker. It was built by the French instrument maker Eichens with an f/11 object glass made my Alphonse Martins( who was a apprentice to Leon Faucault). The design was such that the observer could search for comets without the need to move from a stationary observing position. I attach two pictures of this most unusual telescope.I have a particular interest in comet seeker telescopes and their design, especially the instruments that were used for actual discoveries. I maintain a collection of images of such telescopes and if any member has any pictures, identifications and locations then let me know
Denis Buczynski BAA Comet Section
That is a very unusual mount but clearly very effective since he discovered 10 comets from 1873 through to 1912:
19P/Borrelly, C/1873 Q1 (Borrelly), C/1874 O1 (Borrelly), C/1874 X1 (Borrelly), C/1877 C1 (Borrelly), C/1889 X1 (Borrelly), C/1900 O1 (Borrelly-Brooks), C/1903 M1 (Borrelly), C/1909 L1 (Borrelly-Daniel), C/1912 V1 (Borrelly)
I assume that they were all with this instrument but I haven’t checked.
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