Halley's Comet in 1910

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Sureshks
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Real Name: Suresh Sreenivasan
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Halley's Comet in 1910

Post by Sureshks »

Hi all,

Check out this amazing sketch of Halley's Comet. It was drawn by Mary Proctor in New York City on May 19, 1910. It was apparently drawn one day after the Earth passed thru the comet's tail. That tail appears to be stretching more than 50 degrees!

Can you imagine seeing a comet like this today from the middle of a major city?!?

I noticed something else interesting in this sketch... Venus. It appears in virtually the same spot in the sky every 8 years. This cycle is part of the "5 Petals of Venus" that was known in ancient times. See the link below for more info on Venus cycles.

112 years is exactly 14 8-year Venus cycles... so I looked it up in Sky Safari. Sure enough, on May 19, 2022 Venus was in virtually the same area of sky, near the Great Square of Pegasus... just a few degrees from where Mary Proctor drew it in 1910!

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentia ... -of-venus/

Cool stuff!!

Suresh
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Halley's Comet from NYC
Halley's Comet from NYC
FB_IMG_1657141104343.jpg (144.1 KiB) Viewed 4190 times
Venus - May 19, 2022
Venus - May 19, 2022
Screenshot_20220706-172632_SkySafari 6 Pro.jpg (41.94 KiB) Viewed 4190 times
Suresh Sreenivasan
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wmaalouli
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Re: Halley's Comet in 1910

Post by wmaalouli »

Very cool. What a sight it must have been. I once simulated Halley's comet's passage on the year of its discovery using Microsoft Space Simulator https://youtu.be/oypd0MyJLow
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zimitsj
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Re: Halley's Comet in 1910

Post by zimitsj »

I have never seen that sketch. That is amazing! I bet the Eta Aquariids were really good that year, even if there was a moon. Ha
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