The Greatest Comets in History (eBook)

Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars

David A.J. Seargent (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2008 | 2009
XX, 260 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-09513-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Naked-eye comets are far from uncommon. As a rough average, one appears every 18 months or thereabouts, and it is not very unusual to see more than two in a single year. The record so far seems to have been 2004, with a total of five comets visible without optical aid. But 2006, 1970, and 1911 were not far behind with a total of four apiece. Yet, the majority of these pass unnoticed by the general public. Most simply look like fuzzy stars with tails that are either faint or below the naked-eye threshold. The 'classical' comet - a bright star-like object with a long flowing tail - is a sight that graces our skies about once per decade, on average. These 'great comets' are surely among the most beautiful objects that we can see in the heavens, and it is no wonder that they created such fear in earlier times. Just what makes a comet ''great'' is not easy to define. It is neither just about brightness nor only a matter of size. Some comets can sport prodigiously long tails and yet not be regarded as great. Others can become very bright, but hardly anyone other than a handful of enthusiastic astronomers will ever see them. Much depends on their separation from the Sun, the intensity of the tail, and so forth.

David Seargent is a former lecturer in Philosophy with the Department of Community Programs at the University of Newcastle in Australia and is now a full-time writer. He is the author of the very popular Comets: Vagabonds of Space (Doubleday), formerly a contributing editor on comets to Sky & Space magazine, and currently author of the regular comet column for Australian Sky & Telescope (the southern hemisphere edition). He was co-author with Joseph Marcus, of a paper published in 1986 entitled 'Dust forward scatter brightness enhancement in previous apparitions of Halley's comet' (Proceedings, 20th. ESLAB Symposium on the Exploration of Halley's Comet, Vol. 3, B. Battrick, E. J. Rolfe and R. Reinhard, eds. ESA SP-250. European Space Agency Publications). He was also the Australian co-ordinator for visual observations during the International Halley Watch, 1985-6.

Inhalt

Preface 7
Acknowledgments 12
Contents 13
About the Author 17
The Nature of Comets 18
Introduction 18
The Tails of Comets 25
Features Within Dust Tails 30
The Brightness of Comets 34
The Motions of Comets 39
Halley’s Comet Through the Ages 48
240 B.C. 54
164 B.C. 54
87 B.C. 55
12 B.C. 55
66 A.D. 56
141 56
218 57
295 57
374 57
451 58
530 58
607 59
684 60
760 61
837 61
912 62
989 63
1066 63
1145 64
1222 65
1301 66
1378 67
1456 67
1531 68
1607 68
1682 69
1759 70
1835 70
1910 72
1986 76
The Greatest Comets of Ancient Times 82
The Great Comet of (ca.) 372 B.C., Aristotle’s Comet 83
Comet 135 B.C. (X/-134 N1), ‘‘Mithridates Comet’’ 86
44 B.C. (C/-43 K1), ‘‘Caesar’s Comet’’ 88
Comet 178 A.D. 93
Comet 191 94
Comet 252 94
Comet C/390 Q1 95
Comet C/400 F1 96
Comet C/418 M1 97
Comet 467 100
Comet X/676 P1 100
Comet C/770 K1 101
Comet X/838 V1 102
Comet X/891 J1 103
Comet 893 103
Comet C/905 K1 104
The Greatest Comets from A.D. 1000 to 1800 107
Comet X/1106 C1 107
Comet C/1132 T1 110
Comet C/1147 A1 111
Comet C/1264 N1 112
Comet C/1402 D1 115
Comet C/1471 Y1 118
Comet C/1577 V1 120
Comet C/ 1582 J1 125
Comet C/1618 W1 126
Comet C/1680 V1 128
Comet C/1743 X1 132
Comet C/1769 P1 (Messier) 137
The Greatest Comets from 1800 to Present Times 141
Comet C/1811 F1 (Flaugergues) 144
Comet C/1858 L1 (Donati) 147
Comet C/1861 J1 (Tebbutt) 152
Comet C/1910 A1 158
Comet C/1927 X1 (Skjellerup- Maristany) 162
Comet C/1975 V1 (West) 168
Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) 173
Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) 182
Comet C/2006 P1 (NcNaught) 194
Kamikaze Comets: The Kreutz Sungrazers 207
How Many Kreutz Comets Are There? 212
Possible Early Sungrazers 214
214 B.C. 214
A.D. 133 214
302 215
423 215
852 215
943 215
1034 216
1232 216
X/1381 V1 216
C/1668 E1 216
C/1689 X1 217
C/1695 U1 217
X/1702 D1 218
Undisputed Sungrazers 218
The ‘‘Minor’’ Objects 218
C/1880 C1 218
C/1887 B1 220
C/1945 X1 (du Toit) 222
C/1963 R1 (Pereyra) 222
C/1970 K1 (White-Ortiz-Bolelli) 223
The Greatest Sungrazers 224
C/1843 D1 224
C/1882 R1 227
C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki) 235
Daylight Comets 241
185 B.C. 244
182 B.C. 244
104 B.C. 244
44 B.C. (C/-43 K1) 245
15 245
302 245
363 245
1077 245
1066 1P/Halley 246
C/1106 C1 246
1222 1P/Halley 246
C/1402 D1 246
C/1471 Y1 246
1539 246
1564 246
C/1577 V1 247
1587 247
1625 247
1630 247
1643 247
1644 247
1647 247
1648 248
1665 248
C/1680 V1 248
C/1743 X1 248
1774 248
1792 248
1839 248
C/1843 D1 249
C/1847 C1 (Hind) 249
C/1853 L1 (Klinkerfues) 249
C/1858 L1 (Donati) 249
C/1861 J1 (Tebbutt) 249
1865 250
C/1882 F1 (Wells) 250
C/1882 S1 250
1882 250
X/1896 S1 250
C/1901 G1 251
C/1910 A1 251
1P/Halley 251
1921 252
C/1927 X1 (Skjellerup-Maristany) 252
C/1947 X1 252
C/1948 V1 253
C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki) 254
C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek) 254
C/1975 V1 (West) 254
C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) 254
C/1998 J1 (SOHO) 255
C/2006 P1 (McNaught) 255
Glossary 256
Further Reading 258
Appendix 259
Name Index 262
Subject Index 267

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 16.12.2008
• Reihe/Serie: Astronomers' Universe
• Reihe/Serie: Astronomers' Universe
• Zusatzinfo: XX, 260 p. 47 illus., 8 illus. in color.
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Aristotle's comet • Astronomy • astronomy books • comets in history • Halley's comet • Stars
• ISBN-10: 0-387-09513-6 / 0387095136
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-09513-4 / 9780387095134