X / 1106 C1

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X / 1106 C1 was a comet that could be seen with the naked eye in 1106 . It is counted among the " Great Comets " due to its extraordinary brightness .

Discovery and Visibility

This comet was probably first seen in Belgium in bright daylight on February 2nd . The historian Sigebert von Gembloux (Sigebertus Gemblacensis) reports in his Chronicon sive Chronographia of a star that appeared near the sun. In Bari , Italy , a star may also have been seen on the same day. The next sighting report comes from Palestine , where the comet was seen with a tail of about 100 ° at dusk on February 7th .

Two days later he was seen in Japan , also with the length of the tail mentioned and with a "white" color. By February 11, the tail length had decreased to 15 ° and the following day to only 5 °, but on February 20 it was again around 30 °. Perhaps there were unfavorable sighting conditions in Japan at that time due to the winter weather. After more than 30 days, the comet was then out of sight.

Chinese and Korean astronomers also noticed the comet. In China on February 10, a "broom star" with a head the "size of a cup" was seen in the southwestern sky. The tail was 90 degrees long and 4-5 degrees wide and pointed to the northeast. The "rays" of the comet were "scattered in all directions and as if broken into pieces". Perhaps this is to be understood as a description of a wide-ranging tail, as it was also observed on Comet C / 2006 P1 (McNaught) .

During February there are mentions of this comet in the records of many cultures from around the then known world. An Armenian text speaks of a "terrible, large and amazing comet that frightened everyone who saw it". It appeared on February 13th and remained visible for 50 days. Until February 16, the comet was also mentioned in monastic history books from England , Scotland , France , Italy, the Netherlands , Belgium and Germany . A Welsh Chronicle (see below) described it as "wonderful to look at, dragging a beam of light the thickness of a column and of extraordinary brightness".

In England, the comet was seen as a "strange star in the south and west" for three weeks from the evening of February 16 . This report also mentions "bright rays" emanating from the comet, as did the Chinese.

The comet was also seen in Muslim countries, a text reports on "a star in the sky with curls of hair like a rainbow" that could be seen for several nights.

Orbit

Although there are very many reports about this comet, the statements about its movement in the sky are so contradicting that no orbital elements could be determined for this comet .

In the past, this comet has always attracted the special interest of astronomers. There were various approaches to bring this comet into direct connection with other large comets, but this was always speculative due to the lack of precise orbital elements. Already Edmond Halley suggested that the comet C / 1680 V1 was 1680 a return of the comet of 1106, but this proved to be impossible.

A very serious suggestion came from HCF Kreutz , who suggested in 1891 that the comet of 1106 could have been a member of the Sungrazer (sun streaker) group that was later named after it . According to this, comet C / 1882 R1 (Great September Comet ) from 1882 , comet C / 1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki) from 1965 or comet SOHO-620 from 2003 could have been a return of comet 1106. But it could also be that all three bodies mentioned are fragments of a common precursor comet that broke at some point while passing by the sun .

Mentions in the literature

A brief note in a Welsh manuscript known as Brut y Tywysogion (The Chronicle of the Princes) describes the following:

“Yn y vlwydyn honno y gwelat seren anryued y gwelet yn anuon paladyr oheuni yn ol y chefyn ac o prafter colofyn y veint a diruawr oleuat idaw, yn darogan yr hyn a vei rac llaw: kanys Henri, amherawdyr Rufein, gwedy dir vched y Grist a orffowyssawd. A'e vab ynteu, wedy cael eistedua amherodraeth Rufein, a wnaethpwyt yn amherawdyr. "

“This year a star was seen, wonderful to look at, dragging a beam of light the thickness of a pillar and of extraordinary brightness, predicting what the future will bring: Because Heinrich , Emperor of Rome, after tremendous victories and a most pious Life in Christ found its rest. And his son, after he won the seat of the Roman Empire, became emperor. "

- German translation based on the English by Thomas Jones: Brut y Tywysogion, or, the Chronicle of the Princes: Red Book of Hergest Version . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1955

Other mentions

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ DAJ Seargent: The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars . Springer, New York, 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-09512-7 , pp. 91-94.
  2. ↑ Tony Hoffman: SOHO-620: A Comet on the Right (hand) Track. Retrieved June 5, 2014 .
  3. ^ Gary W. Kronk : Cometography - X / 1106 C1. Retrieved June 5, 2014 .
  4. ^ Bryn Jones: Historic Observations and Events - The History of Astronomy in Wales. Retrieved June 5, 2014 .