Great Comet of 1861 reports in colonial India

Record summary

The Great Comet of 1861 became a conspicuous naked-eye object and was reported across the British Empire. Indian newspapers, observatory publications, and maritime records are plausible sources for localized descriptions of its tail, apparent proximity, and nightly changes. Such material can be compared with later UAP reports involving large, stationary, or slowly moving lights. The event itself is securely documented astronomically, but the existence and wording of particular South Asian or shipboard accounts should be confirmed independently rather than inferred from the global visibility of the comet.