[meteorite-list] The Great Comet of 1532

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:06 2004
Message-ID: <3C729909.B436E49B_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

Ron Baalke wrote:

> "In recent days, several observers have made their own independent
> calculations suggesting that Ikeya-Zhang might have an orbital period of
> roughly 500 years, making for a strong argument that there may indeed be
> a direct connection with the comet of 1532," Bortle said.

Hello Astronomy Buffs, Hello List,

If that is this medieval comet, it would probably be the one Peter
Apian observed. There is a famous woodcut depicting the comet
of 1532 and clearly showing (I even think for the first time) that
comet tails always point away from the sun.

Reference:

WHIPPLE F.L. (1985) The Mystery of Comets, Chapter 3: Breaking the
Crystalline Spheres (Smithsonian Library of the Solar System, p. 17).

Best wishes,

Bernd
Received on Tue 19 Feb 2002 01:27:21 PM PST