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Halley's Comet in 1910

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:40 pm
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

Re: Halley's Comet in 1910

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 6:08 am
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

Re: Halley's Comet in 1910

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2022 10:32 am
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