On the night of October 1，1847，Maria Mitchell（AmericanAstronomer，1818-1889）made an important discovery.Therewere guests in the Mitchell house，but their presence did notprevent Maria from excusing herself and going up to the roof tolook through her telescope，as she did every night when the skywas clear.Usually she stayed only a short time，but on thisoccasion she waited on the roof for more than an hour.When shefinally came back downstairs，she went to her father and whis-pered a few words to him.She seemed to be quite excited.Mr.Mitchell left his guests quietly and went back to the roof withMaria.There，she asked him to look through the telescope，and，when he did so，he saw an unfamiliar bright object in the skywith a shower of light trailing behind it.It was a comet，andMaria had been the first person to see it and to report on it.
1847年10月1日的晚上，玛丽亚·米切尔（美国天文学家，1818 -1889）做出了一项重要的发现。米切尔家里来了些客人，但是他们的在场并没有妨碍玛丽亚的工作，她向他们说了声“请原谅”，就径直登上屋顶，用望远镜观察测星，这是她每天晚上天空晴朗时经常要做的事情。她通常只在那里停留一会儿，可是那天晚上她却在外面屋顶上待了一个多小时。最后她下楼回到屋里，走到父亲跟前，对他低声说了几句话。看来她非常激动。米切尔先生悄悄离开了客人，跟玛丽亚一起回到屋顶上，就在那里，她请她父亲看望远镜。他朝望远镜里一看，就看见天空中有一个不熟悉的发光体，还有一簇光跟在它后面。那是一颗彗星，而玛丽亚就是观测到这颗彗星并且报导它的情况的第一个人。