Draper observing the Great Comet of 1881. 19th-century artwork of US physician and amateur astronomer Henry Draper (1837-1882) observing and taking photographic records of the Great Comet of 1881. He is making these observations from his observatory in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, USA. The comet, visible to the naked eye by June, had been discovered by telescope in May by Australian astronomer John Tebbutt. It is also known as Tebbutt's Comet and C/1881 K1. Draper carried out pioneering observations of the comet using new spectroscopic and photographic methods. This wood engraving dates from circa 1888.