Comet Halley
| Comet ( List of comets) |
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 Comet Halley as taken with the Halley Multicolor Camera on the ESA Giotto mission. The nucleus is sunlit from the left, and several bright jets of gas and dust are visible.
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| Discovery | |
| Discoverer | prehistoric; Named after Edmond Halley |
| Discovery date | 1758 (first predicted perihelion) |
| Alternate designations |
Halley's Comet, 1P (see perihelia) |
| Orbital elements A | |
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Epoch 2449400.5 ( February 17, 1994)
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| Eccentricity (e) | 0.967 |
| Semi-major axis (a) | 17.8 AU |
| Perihelion (q) | 0.586 AU |
| Aphelion (Q) | 35.1 AU |
| Orbital period (P) | 75.3 a |
| Inclination (i) | 162.3° |
| Last perihelion date | February 9, 1986 |
| Next est. perihelion date | July 28, 2061 |
Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halley's Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. It is the most famous of all periodic comets, even though in every century many comets appear brighter and more spectacular. Halley's comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, and will next appear in the summer of 2061.
The most standard pronunciation of "Halley" - and the pronunciation that the astronomer himself probably used - is [hæli] ( IPA), to rhyme with "valley". The once-standard alternate pronunciation [heɪli] (to rhyme with "Bailey") led to rock and roll singer Bill Haley naming his band Bill Haley and the Comets.
Composition
The nucleus of Halley's Comet is potato-shaped with dimensions around 8 by 8 by 16 kilometers. The density of the nucleus is between one tenth and one quarter the density of water. The nucleus is very dark, reflecting only around 4% of incident light. [1]
The Giotto space probe found the comet's surface to be rich in carbon. Of the volume of material ejected by Halley, 80% was water, 10% carbon monoxide, and 2.5% a mix of methane and ammonia. Other hydrocarbons, iron, and sodium were detected in trace amounts.
Cyanogen gas is present in trace amounts.
Material from the comet is responsible for two meteor showers each year, the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.
Edmund Halley's study
Halley's Comet was the first to be recognized as periodic. Having perceived that the observed characteristics of the comet of 1682 were nearly the same as those of two comets which had appeared in 1531 (observed by Petrus Apianus) and 1607 (observed by Johannes Kepler in Prague), Halley concluded that all three comets were in fact the same object returning every 76 years (a period that has since been amended to every 75-76 years). After a rough estimate of the perturbations the comet would sustain from the attraction of the planets, he predicted its return for 1757. Halley's prediction of the comet's return proved to be correct, although it was not seen until 25 December 1758 by Johann Georg Palitzsch, a German farmer and amateur astronomer, and did not pass through its perihelion until March 1759; the attraction of Jupiter and Saturn having caused a retardation of 618 days, as was computed by a team of three French mathematicians, Alexis Clairault, Joseph Lalande, and Nicole-Reine Lepaute, previous to its return. Halley did not live to see the comet's return, having died in 1742.
Notable appearances
Halley's calculations enabled the comet's earlier appearances to be found in the historical record.
Early appearances
- 240 BC and earlier: Historical records show that Chinese astronomers observed the comet's appearance in 240 BC and possibly as early as 2467 BC. Habitual observations and calculations of appearances after 240 BC are recorded by Chinese, Japanese, Babylonian and Islamic astronomers.
- 12 BC: Some theologians have suggested that the comet's appearance in 12 BC might explain the Biblical story of the Star of Bethlehem.
- 837: In this year, it is calculated that Comet Halley may have passed as close as 0.03 AU (3.2 million miles) from Earth, by far its closest approach. Its tail may have stretched 90 degrees across the sky. [2]
- 1066: The comet was seen in England and thought to be a bad omen: later that year Harold II of England died at the Battle of Hastings. It is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry, and the accounts which have been preserved represent it as having then appeared to be four times the size of Venus, and to have shone with a light equal to a quarter of that of the Moon.
- 1301: The artist Giotto di Bondone could have observed the comet and his depiction of the Star of Bethlehem in the Nativity in the Arena Chapel cycle completed in 1305 is a candidate for an early depiction.
- 1456: The comet passed very close to the Earth; its tail extended over 60° of the heavens and took the form of a sabre.
Recent history
The most recent appearances have been in 1835, 1910 and 1986. Halley will next return in 2061.
1910
The May 1910 approach was notable for several reasons: it was the first approach of which photographs exist, and the comet made a relatively close approach, making it a spectacular sight. Indeed, on 19 May, the comet transited the Sun's disk, and the Earth actually passed through its tail. At the time, the comet's tail was known to contain poisonous cyanogen gas. The popular media picked up this fact and, despite the pleas of astronomers, wove sensational tales of mass cyanide poisoning engulfing the planet. In reality, the gas is so diffuse that the world suffered no ill-effects from the passage through the tail.
Many people who claim to remember seeing the 1910 apparition are in fact remembering a different comet, the Great Daylight Comet of 1910, which surpassed Halley in brilliance and was actually visible in broad daylight for a short time about four months before Halley made its appearance.
1986
The 1986 approach was the least favourable for Earth observers of all recorded passages of the comet throughout history: the comet did not achieve the spectacular brightness of some previous approaches, and with increased light pollution from urbanization, many people never saw the comet at all. Further, the comet appeared brightest when it was almost invisible from the northern hemisphere in March and April, prompting many amateur astronomers to travel to the southern hemisphere for a glimpse of the interloper. However, the development of space travel allowed scientists the opportunity to study a comet at close quarters, and several probes were launched to do so. Most spectacularly, the Giotto space probe, launched by the European Space Agency, made a close pass of the comet's nucleus. Other probes included the Soviet Union/France joint projects Vega 1 and Vega 2, and two Japanese probes, Suisei and Sakigake. The probes were unofficially known as the Halley Armada.
It was Stephen Edberg (the serving as the Coordinator for Amateur Observations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL)) and Charles Morris who were the first to observe Comet Halley with the naked eye in its 1986 apparition.
The comet was also observed from space by the International Cometary Explorer, which was in a solar orbit at the time. Originally International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3), it was renamed and retooled after it was freed from its L1 Lagrangian point location to observe comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner.
Two Space Shuttle missions--the ill-fated STS-51-L and STS-61-E--were scheduled to observe Comet Halley from low Earth orbit. 61-E, which would have been flown by Columbia in March 1986, would have carried the ASTRO-1 platform to study the comet, among other things. The Challenger disaster thwarted all such plans. ASTRO-1 would not fly until late 1990 on STS-35. [3]
The Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station was unoccupied during Halley's 1986 visit, and Mir, though launched during the visit, did not receive its first crew until later.
Dates of perihelia
Comet Halley returned / will return to perihelion on the following dates. It is usually visible to the unaided eye for a few months around perihelion.
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The above table sets out the dates of perihelia and the astronomical designation for various apparitions of Halley's Comet. For example, " 9 February 1986 (1P/1982 U1, 1986 III, 1982i" indicates that for the perihelion on 9 February 1986, Halley's Comet was the first period comet known (designated 1P) and this apparition was the first seen in "half-month" U (the first half of November) in 1982 (giving 1P/1982 U1); it was the third comet past perihelion in 1986 (1986 III); and it was the ninth comet spotted in 1982 ( provisional designation 1982i).
Trivia
- Two of the comet's visits - 1835 and 1910 - are the same years as the birth and death of the American novelist Mark Twain. He wrote in 1909, "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it." And so he did. The 1986 film The Adventures of Mark Twain expands on this.
- According to one story, first appearing in a posthumous biography in 1475 and later embellished and popularized by Pierre-Simon Laplace, Pope Callixtus III excommunicated the 1456 apparition of Halley's Comet, believing it to be an ill omen for the Christian defenders of Belgrade, who were at that time being besieged by the armies of the Ottoman Empire. However, no known primary source supports the authenticity of this account.
- Having first seen it as a young boy in 989, Eilmer of Malmesbury declared prophetically in 1066: "You've come, have you?...You've come, you source of tears to many mothers. It is long since I saw you; but as I see you now you are much more terrible, for I see you brandishing the downfall of my country" ( William of Malmesbury, Deeds of the English Kings, Ch. 225, ISBN 0-19-820678-X).
- In the Talmud, it is mentioned that "There is a star which appears once in seventy years that makes the captains of the ships err" ( Horioth, chap. III). It probably refers to the 66 AD perihelion.
Halley's Comet in fiction
- Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2061: Odyssey Three includes a detailed description of a manned mission to Halley's Comet.
- In Heart of the Comet, a novel by Gregory Benford and David Brin (1987), a multinational team colonizes Halley's Comet, building a habitat within the ice.
- In an episode of Futurama, entitled "A Taste Of Freedom", it is mentioned that Earth once fought a war "to take back Halley's Comet". Comet Halley has also been mined for water ice in the series.
- In the computer game Shadow of the Comet, the passing of the Comet, combined with a special vantage point, is the only time (presumably) certain entities can be summoned.
- The seminal rock band Phish wrote a song entitled "Halley's Comet", which they performed over 50 times during their 21 year career. A formal studio release of the song was never issued, although it is available on some of their Live Phish releases.
- Mary Chapin Carpenter also had a song about the comet, "Halley Came To Jackson" off her 1990 "Shooting Straight in the Dark" album.