The Great Comet of 1882, formally designated…
September 1883 CE
The Great Comet of 1882, formally designated C/1882 R1, 1882 II, and 1882b, becomes very bright in September 1882.
It is a member of the Kreutz Sungrazers, a family of comets which pass within 1 R☉ of the Sun's photosphere at perihelion.
The comet is bright enough to be visible next to the sun in the daytime sky at its perihelion.
On September 8, Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, David Gill, reports watching the comet rise a few minutes before the Sun and describes it as "The nucleus was then undoubtedly single, and certainly rather under than over 4″ in diameter; in fact, as I have described it, it resembled very much a star of the 1st magnitude seen by daylight."
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