X / 838 V1

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X / 838 V1
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Date of discovery November 10, 838

X / 838 V1 is a comet that could be seen with the naked eye in 838 . He is counted among the " great comets ".

Discovery and observation

The reports about this comet in the Chinese chronicles Jiù Táng Shū and Táng Huì Yào from the 10th century and Xīn Táng Shū from the 11th century are partially contradicting the information on the size and movement of this comet.

The "Besenstern" was therefore first seen on November 10, 838, it already had a tail 20 ° long. The two older chronicles report that he appeared above Antares , but it cannot be deduced from it whether the observation was made in the morning or evening sky . The next observation took place on November 11th, as the more recent chronicle reports, in the constellation Raven , which corresponds to an observation in the morning sky in the southeast. The following morning the tail was already 30 ° long and pointing west. A Japanese text from the 18th century mentions a "broom star" on November 12th. The comet is said to have appeared in the southeast during the night, showed a reddish-white color and disappeared again after a short time.

The contemporary Buddhist monk Ennin from Japan also reports in his diary for that day: “Early in the morning we saw a comet about 8 ° long in the southeast corner [of the sky]. Clouds obscured it and not much of it could be seen. The Abbot Ling-Cheng told us that this star was like a shining sword and that it appeared the day before yesterday, yesterday and tonight, for three nights. Every day the Minister of State admired him, and every day he ordered seven monks to read Nirvana and Hannya for seven days. "

The comet was seen again in China on November 13th, it was about 35 ° long, and Ennin also reported: “From sunset to dusk I left my room to look for the comet. It stood in the southeast corner [of the sky] with its tail pointing west and shining very clearly. Viewed from a great distance, the length of the tail could be estimated to be over a hundred feet in length. People all said it was undoubtedly a shining sword. "

The last time the comet was seen may be on November 21st. The Xīn Táng Shū reports that a “broom star” appeared in the east and “stretched across the sky from east to west”. This is also reported by the Jiù Táng Shū . At that time, the comet's head could have been very close to the sun , so that only the tail could be seen over the horizon at dusk. The Xīn Táng Shū mentioned again on December 28th that the comet "got out of sight". Since the other chronicles make no mention of this around this time, this is probably to be understood to mean that the comet had already disappeared much earlier and a search for it on the day mentioned was unsuccessful.

The further statements of various sources about comet appearances in the years 838 and 839 are unclear with regard to their time and place information, that they cannot be related with certainty to the comet X / 838 V1. The Belgian Chronica des Sigebert von Gembloux from the beginning of the 12th century records for the year 838 that “a comet appeared in the constellation Libra ”. But this could also be an incorrect dating of the return of Halley's Comet from 837.

The German text Vita Hludovici Imperatoris from the 9th century reports that not long after sunset on January 1, 839, “a terrible comet appeared in the zodiac sign of Scorpio”. Pingré relates this report to a comet from the year 839. He doubts the information, suspecting an error in the indication of the constellation, since several other sources refer to the constellation Aries , such as the Chronica , which reports for the year 839 that a comet appeared in the constellation Aries ”.

There are different opinions as to whether the great comet X / 839 B1 , which was reported in various chronicles at the beginning of the following year, is identical to comet X / 838 V1. This is of Kronk doubted, as the time interval between the observations would be great as it could have been by the same comet. Also Hasegawa calculated approximate orbital elements of the comet X / 839 B1, for which he only took into account the observations of the beginning of February and mid-March, the 839th

Orbit

Due to the uncertain initial data, no orbital elements have yet been determined for this comet . Hasegawa and Nakano list him as an "uncertain candidate" for the Kreutz group of sun-grazing comets.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A. G. Pingré: Cométographie ou Traité historique et théorique des comètes. Tome I. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1783, p. 614 ( PDF; 56.49 MB , Pingré records the Chinese observations of November 11 and 21 as two comets).
  2. ↑ a b J. Williams: Observations of Comets, from BC 611 to AD 1640. Strangeways and Walden, London 1871, pp. 48-49 ( PDF, 20.93 MB , Williams records the Chinese observations of November 11 and 21 than two comets, but considers it possible that it was one comet).
  3. ^ A b Sigebert von Gembloux: Chronica. In: LC Bethmann (Ed.): Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Vol. 6, Hannover 1844, p. 339 ( online ).
  4. ^ GW Kronk: Cometography - A Catalog of Comets, Volume 1. Ancient - 1799 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-58504-0 , pp. 128-130.
  5. ↑ Astronomus: Vita Hludovici Imperatoris - The life of Emperor Ludwig. In: E. Tremp (ed.): Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Vol. 64, Hannover 1995, pp. 541-542 ( online ).
  6. ^ AG Pingré: Cométographie ou Traité historique et théorique des comètes. Tome I. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1783, pp. 345–346 ( PDF; 56.49 MB ).
  7. ^ DAJ Seargent: The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars . Springer, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-09512-7 , p. 85.
  8. ^ GW Kronk: Cometography - A Catalog of Comets, Volume 1. Ancient - 1799 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-58504-0 , pp. 130-131.
  9. ^ I. Hasegawa: Approximate Orbits of Ancient and Medieval Comets. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Vol. 54, 2002, doi: 10.1093 / pasj / 54.6.1091 , pp. 1091-1099 ( PDF; 340 KB ).
  10. ^ 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 ).