| DONATI | Giovanni Battista, 19th Century Italian astronomer who pioneered the spectroscopy of comets (6) |
| AMEDEO | Given name of the 19th-century Italian scientist known for Avogadro's Law (6) |
| DRAPER | Henry, American astronomer who contributed to stellar classification and spectroscopy (6) |
| STRUVE | Otto -; Russian-born US astronomer noted for his studies in stellar spectroscopy and discovery of ionised interstellar hydrogen (6) |
| BESSEL | Astronomer who pioneered parallax stellar distance measurement |
| HALLEY | "A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets" author |
| DASHER | Cohort of Comet |
| EDMUND | Halley of comet fame |
| DANCER | Teammate of Comet and Cupid. |
| GALILEO | The name of the Italian astronomer who discovered Saturn's rings. |
| GALILEOGALILEI | Full name of the great 17th-century Italian astronomer (7,7) |
| ROSSINI | Which 19th-century Italian composer wrote the opera The Barber of Seville? (7) |
| OORT | Astronomer who proposed what is now the generally accepted model for the origin of comets (4) |
| CABALETTA | Lively conclusion of a two-part aria following the song-like cantabile, characteristic of 19th-century Italian opera (9) |
| TAILS | Evening dress including a morning coat of the same name; said cutaway's skirts; or, the caudae of horses or other beasts, thus braids, catkins, trains of comets or other long pendant things, suggestiv |
| WHIPPLE | Fred ___, U.S. astronomer who proposed the 'dirty snowball' theory of comets (7) |
| LOCKYER | Astronomer whose observations of the Sun using spectroscopy led him to discover a new element he named helium, for which he was knighted (7) |
| ANGSTROM | Swedish physicist, a founder of spectroscopy, after whom a unit of length is named (8) |
| GARIBALDI | Giuseppe ---, 19th Century Italian patriot after whom a type of biscuit is named (9) |
| GARIBALDIS | Biscuits with a layer of currants, named after a 19th century Italian patriot (10) |
