Great Comet of 1882

The Great September Comet (also the Great Comet of 1882 or C/1882 R1 ) was a comet that had its greatest brightness in September 1882. He was a member of the Kreutz group, a group of comets that come very close to perihelion the sun. The comet was bright enough during the day to be visible next to the sun.

Discovery

The comet appeared in the September 1882 suddenly in the morning sky and was visible with the naked eye. It is reported that the first sightings took place on September 1, 1882 at the Cape of Good Hope and the Gulf of Guinea. In the following days he was known to many observers in the southern hemisphere.

The first astronomer who has seen the comet was William Henry Finlay from the Royal Observatory in Cape Town, South Africa. His discovery is dated September 7. He describes the comet with an apparent brightness of 3mag and a tail length of one degree.

The comet was brighter and was quickly in the days following an exceptionally strong luminous celestial object.

Perihelion

The orbit determination showed that he belonged to the Sonnenstreifern ( Sungrazers ) and thus had to approach very close to the sun.

The perihelion was only a few days after the discovery of the comet, achieved on 17 September 1882. In the hours around the perihelion passage, the comet could, which reached an apparent brightness of up to - 17mag, are seen during the day in addition to the sun. Shortly after the perihelion passage of the comet pulled from the Earth seen from the sun over ( transit). Finlay tracked the comet using a solar filter right up to the edge of the sun, where he suddenly disappeared. Before the sun no trace of him could be identified.

Developments after the perihelion

After perihelion the comet flew into the darker areas of the sky. Despite the gradual with increasing distance from the Sun decrease in brightness he remained one of the most striking objects in the sky. The end of September observer noted, among other things, Edward Barnard, that the core of the comet began to expand and the beginning of October it was clear that he had broken into at least six parts.

In mid-October the comet developed a counter- tail, ie, a tail, which was apparently in the direction of the sun. This is a quite common phenomenon, but is based on an optical illusion. Spatially show comet tails always away from the sun.

The comet faded gradually, but remained in spite of his breaking up in February 1883 visible to the naked eye. The last definite sighting of the comet was taken on June 1, 1883.