Great comet of 191

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
191
history
Explorer
Date of discovery October / November 191

The Great Comet of 191 is a comet that could be seen with the naked eye in 191 . He is counted among the " great comets ".

Discovery and observation

Little is known about this comet, but from the reports available it appears to have been a downright spectacular object. According to the Chinese chronicle Hòu Hàn Shū from the 5th century , a "comet-like banner" appeared in the constellation Virgo sometime between October 6th and November 4th . The reports speak of “white color” (which indicates a high level of brightness) and “over 100 ° longitude”. According to this information, the comet appeared in the morning sky .

“During the reign of Emperor Hàn Xiàndì (189–220), in the second year of the Chū Píng (190–193) era, a banner was seen on the ninth moon. It was about 100 cubits long. Its color was white. It appeared in the south of the sky regions Jiăo and Kàng. "

- Hòu Hàn Shū

This report is repeated in two Korean chronicles in the Samguk Sagi with the same information.

"In autumn, in the ninth month of the eighth year of Porhyu Wang (184-196), a banner appeared between the heavenly regions of Jiăo and Kàng."

- Chronicle of Silla , Samguk Sagi

Nothing else is known about this object. It either disappeared very quickly, or the weather worsened, or for other reasons there were no further observations, or the reports were lost.

There is a report from Europe by Lampridius in the Historia Augusta that a "hair star" was seen during the reign of Emperor Commodus (161–192). According to Herodian , miraculous signs are said to have appeared several times at that time: Stars were constantly seen in the daytime sky , some of them were elongated and seemed to be hanging in the air. The Great Comet of 191 may have been one of them.

Orbit

Based on the Chinese description and based on the described position and the enormous length and brightness of the tail, Hasegawa suspected as early as 1979 that it could have been a sun streaker from the Kreutz group . The perihelion of the comet could therefore have occurred from the end of September to the beginning of October 191. In a more recent study from 2001, he and Nakano indicated a possible perihelion date of October 12, 191, and they calculated an ephemeris that corresponds with the traditional observation.

Due to the uncertain initial data, no statement can be made as to whether and, if so, when the comet could return to the inner solar system .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gary W. Kronk : Cometography - A Catalog of Comets, Volume 1, Ancient - 1799. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-58504-0 , p. 45.
  2. ↑ J. Williams: Observations of Comets, from BC 611 to AD 1640. Strangeways and Walden, London 1871, p. 17 ( PDF, 20.93 MB ).
  3. ^ A b I. Hasegawa, S. Nakano: Possible Kreutz Sungrazing Comets Found in Historical Records. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Vol. 53, 2001, doi: 10.1093 / pasj / 53.5.931 , pp. 931-949 ( PDF; 312 kB ).
  4. ^ DAJ Seargent: The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars. Springer, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-09512-7 , p. 77.
  5. ^ AG Pingré: Cométographie ou Traité historique et théorique des comètes. Tome I. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1783, pp. 294–295, 587 ( PDF; 56.49 MB , Pingré incorrectly gives the comet's release date as September / October 192).
  6. ^ I. Hasegawa: Orbits of Ancient and Medieval Comets. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Vol. 31, 1979, pp. 257-270 ( bibcode : 1979PASJ ... 31..257H ).