wrote, "only the nucleus and a little nebulosity 15" in diameter acted on the plate in an exposure of six minutes". Orbital calculations The definitive orbits for the comet were calculated by Friedrich Emil von Asten and George William Hill, the latter's based on nearly 1000 positions. The comet had an orbital inclination of 116.9°. Due to its long elliptical orbit, it is estimated that Donati's Comet will not be seen passing by Earth again until the 4th millennium: Asten calculated , and Hill suggested . , JPL Horizons estimates that the comet is from the Sun and continuing to move away from the Sun at . In art and culture Donati's Comet is considered to be one of the most beautiful comets observed, and was one of the brightest of the century, making a strong impression both on artists and the general public. After a prior period of hysteria on the subject of comets, especially in Paris (caused partly by incorrect calculations by John Russell Hind which suggested that one would strike the Earth in June 1857) Donati's Comet went on to be the most-observed of the century due to its excellent visibility in dark skies for Northern Hemisphere viewers, particularly in Europe, and fine weather in September and October. William Henry Smyth, an English astronomer, recalled it as "one of the most beautiful objects that I have ever seen". Donati himself, a relatively obscure figure, was propelled to the status of an astronomical hero, and the comet helped cultivate a general enthusiasm for astronomy among the public. Donati's Comet appears as a streak and star in the early evening sky of a painting by William Dyce, Pegwell Bay, Kent – a Recollection of October 5th 1858. It was featured in a number of sketches and at least one painting by William Turner of Oxford, and in a painting, "The Comet of 1858, as seen from the Heights of Dartmoor", by Samuel Palmer. The Comet at Yell'ham, a 1902 poem by Thomas Hardy, was inspired by his recollections of Donati's Comet. Abraham Lincoln, then a candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate, sat up on the porch of his hotel in Jonesboro, Illinois, to see "Donti's Comet" on September 14, 1858, the night before the third of his historic debates with Stephen Douglas. In his journals of the Malay Archipelago, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace writes of seeing the