About nine years later, on 13 May 1861, Tebbutt discovered the 1861 comet, one of the most brilliant comets known. There was no means then of telegraphing the intelligence to England where it became visible on 29 June. Tebbutt was acknowledged as the first discoverer of this comet, and the first to compute its approximate orbit. In November 1861 he purchased an excellent refracting telescope of aperture and focal length. In 1862, on the resignation of the Rev. W. Scott, he was offered the position of government astronomer for New South Wales but refused it.