March 30: Finding the famous Halley comet

Comet Halley, officially named 1P / Halley, a comet named after British astrophysicist Edmund Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75 to 76 years. It is the most famous comet in periodic comets.

Halley Comet, photo taken in 1986 by NASA

According to the records, the first people who discovered comet Halley were two Chinese astronomers who discovered the sign of a star moving at great speed in 239 BC . At that time, comet Halley had an elliptical orbit, which was on its way out of Neptune 's orbit to begin entering orbit of Venus. Halley comet is also the first comet to be discovered in astronomical history.

When Halley's comet returned in 164 BC and 87 tCN, it was probably noted in the Babylonian writings now stored in the British Museum in London. " These texts have important implications for the orbit of the comet in ancient times ," commented an article in the journal Nature.

Halley's most famous appearance occurred shortly before the invasion of England in 1066 by the army of William . It is said that Wiliam felt that the star brushed before his success. Anyway, the comet was included in the Bayeux Embroidery Carpet to honor William.

A piece of Bayeux carpet showing Halley comet appeared in 1066

Another appearance of Halley's comet in 1301 may have inspired Italian artist Giotto to paint a painting of the star of Bethlehem in " Glory to the Magi ", according to the Britannica encyclopedia.

However, astronomers in these ages each saw the comet Halley as a private event. Comets are often referred to as catastrophic signs or events.

Even when Shakespeare wrote the play " Julius Caesar " around 1600, only 105 before Edmond Halley calculated that the comet would appear recurring, a famous phrase said comets are premonitions: "When The beggars died, no comets appeared, it was the sky that signaled the death of the prince . "

Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley published the book " Essentials of Comet Astronomy" in 1705, cataloging what he found from the historical data of 24 comets that appeared near Earth from 1337 to 1698. Three These observations seem very similar in trajectory and other parameters, prompting Halley to suggest that it is a comet who visited the Earth many times.

The comet appeared in 1531, 1607 and 1682. Halley proposed that the comet itself could return to Earth in 1758. He did not live long enough to witness its return - he died in in 1742 - but his discovery inspired others to take his name for the comet.

The last time it appeared was in 1986 and predicted it would return in 2061.