Great Comet of 1744

The comet Klinkenberg ( official name C/1743 X1 ) was one of the brightest comets of the 18th century. He is also known as the Great Comet of 1744.

Discovery orbit

The comet was discovered on December 9, 1743 by amateur astronomer Dirk Klinkenberg (* November 15 1709 in Haarlem, † March 3, 1799 in The Hague) in Haarlem. Regardless was the astronomer and mathematician Jean -Philippe Loys de Lausanne Chéseaux in the comet on December 13, 1743 It was also Chéseaux, who calculated the orbit of the comet. , The sun next point on the path ( perihelion ) the comet on 1 March 1744 has passed, still within the orbit of the planet Mercury. The orbital plane is inclined at 47 ° to the ecliptic. Although the comet was observed over several months, could not be distinguished from a parabolic shape its course. If and when the comet will return to the inner solar system again, so is not known.

Visibility

As the comet approached the sun, took its apparent brightness too quickly: Already towards the end of 1743 he reached a brightness of 3mag and was to recognize freiäugig even for untrained observers. In mid-February 1744 shone the comet was at the brightest star in the sky, and showed two tails of approximately 10 ° or 30 ° of longitude. On February 27, the comet could be seen even during the day, only 12 ° next to the sun. Its brightness is likely there have been about - 6mag. After the comet had passed perihelion, the multiple tails of the comet were seen protruding above the horizon (next picture), while the comet head due to the proximity to the Sun remained unobservable at dawn of March 8 and March 9 at first. Subsequently the comet tail developed up to eleven rays and the tail reached a length of up to 90 °. The end of April its brightness was again declined to 3mag.

Charles Messier was also able to observe the great comet of 1744 as a thirteen- year-old. Impressed by this great publication devoted Messier his later life in search of new comets.