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Back to Subjects - Astronomy

comets

comets Cometography is a four-volume project I have been working on since the mid-1970s. Jump-started by comet Kohoutek of 1973-1974, I began researching comets and immediately found myself becoming more and more intrigued by them. It was fascinating to read about comets that unexpectedly split, brightened, or faded. There were also interesting stories concerning the discovery circumstances of some comets, as well as tales about how comets affected cultures. As I continued reading I found that, back in 1967, the International Astronomical Union suggested that an up-to-date descriptive catalog of comets or "cometography" was needed. A committee was formed, but in 1970 it reported, according to the words of Brian Marsden, "that it would be very nice to have a cometography, but that the effort required to produce such a catalog was greater than the members of the committee could devote to it." Thus began my inspiration to research and write Cometography, a set of books devoted to adequately presenting the details of every comet seen in recorded history. The last complete work of this type was written by Alexander Guy Pingre. His two volumes, called Cometographie, were published in 1783 and 1784, but are now greatly out of date. Not only do they obviously lack the comets seen between 1784 and the present, but much of the original source material has been retranslated over the years, so that Pingre's work is now inaccurate in places. Since the time of Pingre, two other books have been published: Physical Characteristics of Comets, by S. K. Vsekhsvyatskii in 1958, and Comets: A Descriptive Catalog, by myself in 1984. Both of these books brought the 19th and 20th century comets to readers, but in a manner much more highly condensed than that of Pingre. They also only included those comets for which orbits had been computed. The vast portion of Pingre's work included comets for which orbits could not be determined, some of which have since been identified as previous, though poorly observed, appearances of Halley's comet, periodic comet Swift-Tuttle, and periodic comet d'Arrest. Cometography brings back the lesser observed comets, with the intention of providing all necessary details that might help future astronomers establish new comet identity links. To aid in the accuracy of Cometography I have tried to avoid Pingre's books and the book of Vsekhsvyatskii. I have gone through hundreds of monastic histories written and published during medieval times, as well as dozens of texts from ancient and medieval Rome, Greece, and China. I have read the diaries of dozens of explorers and significant public figures. I have translated French, German, Latin, and Spanish (with occasional help from friends), and I have had many Chinese passages retranslated when they were conflicting with other sources. All of this work was meant to try and make Cometography as accurate as possible. What else does Cometography offer? It offers, whenever possible, the complete name of every individual who made a discovery, observation, or orbital calculation. It offers all available information on the "comets that got away"--comets which were announced but lost or observed so poorly that orbits could never be calculated. It includes details of the predictions and searches for periodic comets which were expected, but not found, and attempts to explain why they were missed by astronomers. This has been aided by the generous contributions of Brian Marsden, Donald Yeomans, and Grzegorz Sitarski who have sent me unpublished orbital computations over the years. It uses the most reliable orbits to calculate important details. For the first and last observation, it gives the distances from the Earth and sun, as well as the solar elongation. For the rest of each comet's appearance it also includes the date of the closest approach to Earth, the highest and lowest declination, and the dates of full moon. Cometography is a catalog which offers every important descriptive detail on every comet ever recorded by mankind. Today many astronomers are still including references to the works of Pingre, Vsekhsvyatskii, and Kronk. Each authors' comet catalog had their strengths, but none is as complete and up to date as Cometography will be. As of 2000 April 22, I am still working hard on volume two, which will cover the comets of the 19th century. I upgraded my computer about two weeks ago, and went a week without a backup system in place. Believe it or not disaster hit with about 45 pages of the 800-page double-spaced manuscript being trashed. It took me a week to get things fixed, and writing has resumed. The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society has now been filed among the journals that are completely added to this volume. The big obstacle still remaining is the Astronomische Nachrichten, which is complete only up to 1882 and from 1896 upwards. These two volumes should go much faster. The research is probably 99 percent completed for volume three, and many of the comets are finished. This volume was the closest to completion when I first signed the Cambridge contract. It covers all comets seen from 1900 through 1959. Volume four is not far behind volume three. It will cover 1960 through 1999, so I am still waiting for the final comets of that volume to be discovered. Bibliography:

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