What comets and when. The brightest known comets of the coming years. Comets


Comets are one of the most mysterious celestial bodies that appear in the sky every now and then. Today, scientists believe that comets are a byproduct left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago. They consist of a core of various types of ice (frozen water, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane mixed with dust) and a large cloud of gas and dust surrounding the core, often called a "coma". Today, more than 5260 of them are known. The brightest and most impressive are collected here.

Great Comet of 1680


Discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch on November 14, 1680, this magnificent comet became one of the brightest comets of the seventeenth century. She was remembered for being visible even in the daytime, as well as for her spectacular long tail.

Mrkos (1957)


Comet Mrkos was photographed by Alan McClure on August 13, 1957. The photo made a great impression on astronomers, since for the first time a double tail was noticed on a comet: a straight ion tail and a curved dust tail (both tails are directed in the opposite direction from the Sun).

There are now studies that believe that the effects of mara, which come from Galasia as a whole, constitute the main mechanism for changing the orbits of comets located in the Oort cloud outside. Although comets could continue to reside in this cloud, it was clear that they could not have formed there, given the low density of matter in the region in which it is located. One possible explanation is that they formed in a planetary region and migrated to the cloud. In a later study, Oort and Schmidt made a distinction between new comets—those coming directly from Oort Cloud, making their first close visit to the Sun—and old comets—returning in elliptical orbits.

De Kock-Paraskevopoulos (1941)


This strange but beautiful comet is best remembered for its long but faint tail, and for being visible at dawn and dusk. So strange name The comet received its name because it was discovered simultaneously by an amateur astronomer named De Kock and the Greek astronomer John S. Paraskevopoulos.

The former seem to be more active than the latter. These attempted deductions have been reviewed and modified, as well as the role of stellar disturbances in bringing new comets to the brightened inner solar system. Although the Oort cloud has never been observed directly, it is now generally accepted by the astronomical community. Schematic representation of the Oort cloud.

Edgeworth and Gerald Kuiper argue that it is unlikely that the solar nebula abruptly ended at the position of Neptune's orbit and postulate the existence of a structure with the general composition of ice. In particular, outside Pluto's orbit the population could remain intact. Today we know that the Kuiper waist is a reservoir of short-lived comets.

Skjellerup - Maristani (1927)


Comet Skjellerup-Maristany was a long-period comet whose brightness suddenly increased greatly in 1927. It was visible to the naked eye for approximately thirty-two days.

Mellish (1917)


Mellish is a periodic comet that has been observed primarily in the southern hemisphere. Many astronomers believe that Mellish will return to Earth's horizon in 2061.

Ion tails have been found to develop closer to the Sun than curved dust tails. However, the high speeds of some of the structures present in the tails required the solar wind to be denser than previously thought. Radiation pressure, the only factor considered at the time, did not justify the large accelerations occurring in the tails. For some time, comet tails were the only well-distributed solar wind probes in interplanetary space.

Tail replacement has been studied extensively by Alfwin, who further argues that the tail of the tail should be considered part of the comet since it is magnetically attached to its head. Comets are celestial bodies, formed by ice and dust. The solid part inside comets is the nucleus and is typically between 1 and 10 km in diameter, consisting primarily of water, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide, all in a solid state. Because of their low mass, comets cannot become spherical under their own gravity and therefore have irregular shapes.

Brooks (1911)


This bright comet was discovered in July 1911 by astronomer William Robert Brooks. It was remembered for its unusual blue color, which was the result of radiation from carbon monoxide ions.

Daniel (1907)


Comet Daniel was one of the most famous and widely observed comets of the early twentieth century.

Surprisingly, cometary nuclei are among the darkest objects in the solar system. Complex organic compounds are considered dark surface material. Solar heating removes volatile components, leaving behind heavy, long-chain organic compounds that tend to be quite dark.

The dark color of a comet's surface, which allows them to absorb the heat needed to expel gases. The coma glows due to fluorescence, i.e. the phenomenon of luminous excitation of the atoms that compose it, due to ultraviolet solar radiation.

Lovejoy (2011)


Comet Lovejoy is a periodic comet that comes extremely close to the sun at perihelion. It was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy.

Bennett (1970)


The next comet was discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969, when it was two astronomical units from the Sun. It was notable for its radiant tail, composed of plasma compressed into filaments by magnetic and electric fields.

Radiation from the sun causes gas and dust to emerge from the coma, forming a tail that reaches a length of about 150 million kilometers. Typically two tails can be observed, a gas tail and a dust tail. The dust tail is wider, curved, and yellow because it shines due to sunlight reflecting in the dust. The ion tail is formed as a result of the photoelectric effect of solar ultraviolet radiation acting on coma particles. The two tails can be seen in the image below of Comet West-Kohutek-Ikemura.

When magnetic field lines are pressed along the magnetic tail, magnetic reconnection can be generated. The halo is a huge shell of hydrogen formed by the dissociation of water from each structure of the comet and is visible from Earth because it emits mostly ultraviolet rays, which are absorbed by our atmosphere. This structure was discovered in the last century by artificial satellites launched for scientific purposes.

Seki Lines (1962)


Initially visible only in the southern hemisphere, Seki Lines became one of the brightest objects in the night sky on April 1, 1962.

Arend-Roland (1956)


Visible only in the southern hemisphere during the first half of April 1956, Comet Arend-Roland was first discovered on November 8, 1956 by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland in photographic images.

Sometimes it is observed in the opposite direction, i.e. tail in the direction of the Sun. This is a promising effect caused by large particles ejected from the core that are not drawn by the solar wind, remaining in orbit. Unlike planets, which have nearly circular orbits with little eccentricity and whose orbital planes are nearly coplanar, comets move in highly orbital or even parabolic and hyperbolic orbits and with inclined orbital planes, as seen in the following figure. Note that the eccentricity of the ellipse is greater than zero and less than one; parabola is a method with eccentricity equal to one; a hyperbola has an eccentricity greater than one.

Eclipse (1948)


Eclipse is an exceptionally bright comet that was discovered during solar eclipse November 1, 1948.

Viscara (1901)


The great comet of 1901, sometimes called Comet Vizcar, became visible to the naked eye on April 12. It was visible as a second magnitude star with a short tail.

Most comets have an elliptical orbit that takes them near the Sun for parts of their orbits and then to their farthest points solar system for the rest of the orbit; the longer the ellipse, the longer the period. Comets are generally classified according to the length of their orbital period, viz.

Short-period comets are generally defined as having orbital periods shorter than 200 years. Among the shorter ones, Comet Encke has an orbit that never puts it beyond the orbit of Jupiter. This comet has the shortest known translation period, approximately 3.3 years. Long-lived comets: They have highly eccentric orbits with periods ranging from 200 years to thousands or even millions of years, but they remain gravitationally confined to the Sun. Their orbits take them far beyond the outer planets under siege, and the plane of their orbits is not necessarily close to the ecliptic. Single comets are similar to long-duration comets, but have parabolic or hyperbolic trajectories that cause them to leave the Solar System forever after passing the Sun only once.

  • Typically, their orbits take us to the planet's outer planets.
  • For example, the Halley mission's mission is beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Comet nomenclature based on your rank by accessing.

McNaught (2007)


Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007, is a periodic celestial body discovered on August 7, 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught. It was the brightest comet in forty years and was clearly visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere in January and February 2007.

He noticed that some of the records had intermediate dates of approximately 76 years. In fact, all of the passages of Halley's Comet since 248. Your next return will be included. Comets are, in fact, the most curious celestial objects that exist. Although they are all a “dirty ball of ice,” as famous American astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple said, when they approach Earth, they manifest themselves in shapes, auroras, and even different colors, making them a special spectacle. Very bright comets visible to the naked eye are rare, but telescopic comets are relatively common.

Hyakutake (1996)


Comet Hyakutake was discovered on January 31, 1996, during its closest passage to Earth. She was named " Big comet 1996" and was remembered for the fact that it was a celestial body that approached the Earth at the minimum distance over the past two hundred years.

Vesta (1976)


Comet Vesta was perhaps the most exciting and eye-catching comet of the last century. It was visible to the naked eye, and its two huge tails stretched across the entire sky.

Observing telescopic comets obviously involves the use of optical equipment, which does not necessarily have to be large. Even binoculars can track certain comets. The greatest difficulty is finding them because they are usually scattered bodies that are easily mistaken for background objects. For those who are in the habit of observing the sky, many of these objects are already familiar and will not cause confusion. Otherwise, an astronomical map showing the comet's trajectory can help.

However, it is very important to know how to recognize the main stars and constellations. It is also important to know some of the comet's characteristics, as its apparent magnitude and magnitude are intended to give you an idea of ​​what to look for. This information can be obtained from specialized websites.

Ikeya-Seki (1965)


Also known as the "Great Comet of the Twentieth Century," Ikeya-Seki was the brightest comet of the last century, appearing even brighter than the Sun in daylight. According to Japanese observers, it was about ten times brighter than the full moon.

Halley's Comet (1910)


Despite the appearance of much brighter long-period comets, Halley is the brightest short-period (it returns to the Sun every 76 years) comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye.

It is important to remember that the perceived size of comets is different from the apparent size of stars, since they are punctual objects and comets are large objects. When we talk about an apparent magnitude of 10 for a comet, we are talking about the magnitude of the comet, i.e. about the magnitude that a comet would have if the brightness of its entire area were concentrated at one point. Thus, if the limiting magnitude of a telescope is, for example, 12, this means that stars of apparent magnitude can be seen through it. Comets, however, will only be visible if they have an apparent magnitude of no more than .

Great Southern Comet (1947)


In December 1947, a huge comet was spotted near the setting sun, the brightest in decades (since Halley's Comet in 1910).

Events

Small Comet Hartley 2 will be visible from Earth with the naked eye on October 20, when it will fly past the planet just 11 million kilometers away. In recent centuries, this will be the closest “contact” of our planet with a comet.

In addition to brightness, a feature good enough to detect them is the degree of coma condensation, an estimate of how much matter condenses around the comet's nucleus. Some computer telescope manufacturers provide the coordinates of newly discovered celestial objects on their websites, allowing downloads that include new discoveries to the list of objects already cataloged on the telescope.

Comets are flying pigs that sometimes pass close to the Earth, with their long tails and their brightness. This passage leads many idiots to believe that they are in the movie Pinocchio and see a shooting star. Comets vary in size, but generally smaller than the planet, some of them may be even smaller than Sergipe.

Hartley 2 was discovered in 1986. Its orbital path was far from Earth until a couple of rotations around Jupiter brought the orbit closer.

Hartley 2 will be one of the comets that have flown quite close to Earth in recent centuries.

Comet McNaught lit up the sky in 2007. The brightest comet in over forty years, McNaught was named the Great Comet of 2007. Astronauts were able to observe this comet, thereby shedding light on the composition of such celestial bodies. Spacecraft Willis discovered a decrease in the solar wind here.

Comet, chemically engineered. The comet is a paradox, having a core of ice, but it loves to orbit the Sun and therefore has a syrup formed by the effects of radiation, meaning it is made of ice and fire at the same time. At its core, in addition to ice, we have small stones and cosmic dust, which mix with ice, turning into diamond dust, since the tail, as already said, has fire and chemical components of space, which together form the volume of the aurora radiation, which is ideal matches with diamond powder.

One more thing, don't try to catch the tail of a comet and fly with it like kite, it won't work. Comets have a wide range of orbital periods, from a few years to hundreds of thousands of years, and it is believed that some of them have only once passed through the inner solar system before entering interstellar space and that others will never come here to give birth to a little boy and get confused with the shooting star. Comets are ejected from the outer limits of the Solar System towards the Sun by the gravitational disturbance of the outer planets or nearby stars, i.e. they are chased away and kicked by whoever is nearby.

The comet's discoverer, Australian astronomer Robert McNaught, discovered another new bright comet in 2009 McNaught S/2009 R1 , which flew past the Earth in June of this year.

Comet Schwassman-Wachmann surprised scientists in 1995 when it split into three mini-comets. Decay celestial body By the way, it is still going on. By the time it approached Earth in 2006, Schwassman-Wachmann had already split into 30 small pieces, some of which will make their closest approach to Earth in 2022.

Hale-Bopp It is considered the longest-lasting comet of the 20th century. Earthlings could observe it for 18 months from 1996 to 1997.

The giant comet was first seen beyond the orbit of Jupiter and shone a thousand times brighter than Halley's Comet, located at the same distance. NASA experts estimate the diameter of Hale-Bopp's core to be 19 to 25 miles, which is two and five times the size of the comet that struck our planet 65 million years ago. Hale-Bopp will not return to our solar system until 4385.

"Great Comet of 1996" Hyakutake , flying close to the Earth, illuminated the sky with a bluish-green light, according to scientists, due to the presence of diatomic carbon in the emission. Hyakutake was also the first comet to emit X-rays.




Shoemaker-Levy-9 collided with Jupiter in 1994. Then we observed for the first time the collision of two bodies in the solar system. As a result of such a “meeting,” gas bubbles formed and dark traces remained in the atmosphere.

Shoemaker-Levy -9 became the first comet to orbit a planet rather than the Sun. Jupiter most likely pulled the comet into its orbit in the 1960s and 70s.

Astronomers predicted a collision of the Earth with the Earth in 2126. Comet Swift-Tuttle . However, they subsequently revised their calculations - the comet will fly past us at a distance of 15 million miles.

This comet is included in meteor shower The Perseids, which appear annually in the summer night sky.

The most famous comet is probably Comet Halley , visible from Earth every 75 or 76 years. Thus, a person can observe it, say, twice in his life.




The comet has been observed since ancient times. But the fact that this is exactly the comet cyclically observed from Earth was discovered in 1705 by the English astronomer Edmond Halley.

The next time the comet will be visible from Earth will be in 2061.

The closest thing to our planet in the last two centuries is a small comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock in 1983. The size of a moon, it appeared in the sky just three million miles away. Specialists from NASA were able to prove with the help of a satellite that the component of this comet contains sulfur - the first discovery of its kind.

The brightest comet of the century was West in 1976. It was so clear that it could be observed during the daytime. This comet will still not soon return to a distance close to Earth.