Everything about The Great Comet Of 1882 totally explained
The
Great Comet of 1882 formally designated C/1882 R1,
1882 II, and
1882b, was a
comet which became very bright in September
1882. It was a member of the
Kreutz Sungrazers, a family of comets which pass within 1
R☉ of the
Sun's photosphere at
perihelion.
The comet was bright enough to be visible next to the sun in the daytime sky at its perihelion.
Discovery
The comet appeared suddenly in the morning skies of September 1882, and as it was already visible to the
naked eye when it became visible it was discovered independently by many people. Reports suggest that it was first seen as early as
1 September 1882, from the
Cape of Good Hope as well as the
Gulf of Guinea, and over the next few days many observers in the
southern hemisphere reported the new comet.
The first
astronomer to record observations of the comet was
W. H. Finlay, the Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory in
Cape Town,
South Africa. Finlay's observation on September 7 at 16h
GMT
Post-perihelion evolution
After its perihelion passage, the comet moved into dark skies, and although it faded as it receded from the Sun it remained one of the most prominent objects in the sky. On September 30, observers, including Finlay and
E. E. Barnard, began to notice that the comet's nucleus was elongated
Orbital studies
Studies of the orbit of the comet showed that the Great Comet of 1882 was moving on an almost identical path to previous
great comets seen in
C/1843 D1 and
C/1880 C1. (C/1965 S1) are two of its sister fragments.
It is now well established that the comets
C/1843 D1,
C/1880 C1, C/1882 R1, C/1887 B1, C/1963 R1, C/1965 S1, and C/1970 K1 are all members of a family known as the
Kreutz Sungrazers, which are all descended from one comet. Current models don't support the frequent supposition in the prior literature that the famous comet of
372 BC is in fact the ultimate parent of the Sungrazers. The comet of 372 BC is often associated with
Aristotle who, along with others from his time, described that comet in his writings. However, Aristotle was only twelve at the time of the comet's appearance and the historian,
Callisthenes of Olynthus, who also wrote about it was born ten years after its appearance. Consequently, their reports shouldn't be taken as eye-witness accounts. Further, there's no mention of the comet in Chinese literature of the time. Instead either the comet of February 423 or of February 467 with orbital periods of around 700 years is now considered the likely progenitor of the Sungrazers. The fragments of the Great Comet of 1882 will return in several hundred years time, spread out over perhaps two or three centuries.
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