comet over London in 1664-65
ray doetsch
Can anyone identify the comet(s) said to be seen over London in December
of 1664 and again in early 1665. This is mentioned by Samuel Pepys in
his diary and also by Daniel Defoe in his fictitious account of the
plague of 1665 in his "Journal of the Plague Year" written in 1722.
Thanks in advance for your help !
Danny Fagandini
ra...@crosslnk.net (ray doetsch) wrote:
> Can anyone identify the comet(s) said to be seen over London in December
> of 1664 and again in early 1665.
The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia identifies the events in the
following manner;
1664
1st date reported 17th November
observation interval 75 days
perihelion date 12/5 distance 1.03 AU
Perigee date 12/29 distance 0.17 AU
Brightness Max -1 on 12/29
1665
1st date reported 27th March
observation interval 24 days
perihelion date 4/24 distance 0.11 AU
Perigee date 4/4 distance 0.57 AU
Brightness Max -1 on 4/20
This comet was last observed on Apr.20 as it approached solar conjunction.
Hope this helps.
Jonathan Shanklin
ray doetsch wrote:
>
> Can anyone identify the comet(s) said to be seen over London in December
> his diary and also by Daniel Defoe in his fictitious account of the
> plague of 1665 in his "Journal of the Plague Year" written in 1722.
> Thanks in advance for your help !
This would be the great comet of 1664, C/1664 W1, which was at
perihelion on 1664 Dec 5 at 1.02 AU and passed closest to the earth on
December 29 at 0.17 AU.
--
Jon Shanklin,
j...@ast.cam.ac.uk or j.sha...@bas.ac.uk
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds
Comet Section Director, British Astronomical Association
Michael Dworetsky
In article <5idmir$5...@pecos.msfc.nasa.gov> Jonathan Shanklin <j...@ast.cam.ac.uk> writes:
>ray doetsch wrote:
>>
>> Can anyone identify the comet(s) said to be seen over London in December
>> of 1664 and again in early 1665. This is mentioned by Samuel Pepys in
>> his diary and also by Daniel Defoe in his fictitious account of the
>> plague of 1665 in his "Journal of the Plague Year" written in 1722.
>> Thanks in advance for your help !
>
>This would be the great comet of 1664, C/1664 W1, which was at
>perihelion on 1664 Dec 5 at 1.02 AU and passed closest to the earth on
>December 29 at 0.17 AU.
>
There was definitely a second comet seen a few months later in 1665. Do
you have details of that one as well, Jon? It's in Halley's list of
comet orbits.
--
Mike Dworetsky, Department of Physics | Bismarck's law: The less people
& Astronomy, University College London | know about how sausages and laws
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT UK | are made, the better they'll
email: m...@star.ucl.ac.uk | sleep at night.
Paul Schlyter
In article <5igaoa$6...@pecos.msfc.nasa.gov>,
Michael Dworetsky <m...@zuaxp0.star.ucl.ac.uk> wrote:
> In article <5idmir$5...@pecos.msfc.nasa.gov> Jonathan Shanklin <j...@ast.cam.ac.uk> writes:
>>ray doetsch wrote:
>>>
>>> Can anyone identify the comet(s) said to be seen over London in December
>>> of 1664 and again in early 1665. This is mentioned by Samuel Pepys in
>>> his diary and also by Daniel Defoe in his fictitious account of the
>>> plague of 1665 in his "Journal of the Plague Year" written in 1722.
>>> Thanks in advance for your help !
>>
>>This would be the great comet of 1664, C/1664 W1, which was at
>>perihelion on 1664 Dec 5 at 1.02 AU and passed closest to the earth on
>>December 29 at 0.17 AU.
>
> There was definitely a second comet seen a few months later in 1665. Do
> you have details of that one as well, Jon? It's in Halley's list of
> comet orbits.
0.106 AU from the Sun. Comets that pass that close to the Sun usually
gets quite bright.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
Grev Turegatan 40, S-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pau...@saaf.se p...@net.ausys.se pa...@inorbit.com
WWW: http://spitfire.ausys.se/psr -- updated daily!
Graeme Waddington
On 10 Apr 1997, Paul Schlyter wrote:
>
> This must be 1665 F1, which passed perihelion at 1665 April 24, only
> 0.106 AU from the Sun. Comets that pass that close to the Sun usually
> gets quite bright.
>
And whose orbit was solved by Edmund Halley in 1705.
For both the 1664 and 1665 comets see Yeomans' Comet book; he has a
chapter on them.
Graeme Waddington