The Great Southern Comet of 1880, formally designated as C/1880 C1 in modern nomenclature, is a comet that became visible in the naked eye throughout the Southern hemisphere in February 1880. It is notable for being classified as a "great comet" not by its apparent magnitude, but by its prominent tail.
 Illustration of the Great Comet of 1880 from a Scientific American article in May 1880[1] | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovery date | 1 February 1880 |
| Designations | |
| 1880a[2] 1880 I | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch | 14 February 1880 (JD 2407759.5) |
| Observation arc | 5 days |
| Number of observations | 7 |
| Orbit type | Kreutz sungrazer |
| Aphelion | 0.0054 AU |
| Semi-major axis | –520.91 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.0000103 |
| Avg. orbital speed | 575 km/s |
| Inclination | 144.759° |
| 8.448° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 86.685° |
| Last perihelion | 28 January 1880 |
| Earth MOID | 0.5541 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.9694 AU |
| Physical characteristics[4] | |
| 3.0 (1880 apparition) | |
Discovery and observations
editThe comet had no single discoverer, or at least none is known, since all of its initial observations were not first-hand reports. However, it is generally agreed that the comet was first seen on the evening of February 1, 1880 in Australia and New Zealand.[5] The first known sighting of the comet was recorded by Henry C. Russell, the director of the Sydney Observatory, when he received a message from "a certain gentleman living in the northern part of a colony", stating that he "was surprised by a bright streak of light, stretching from the horizon towards the South Pole".[6]
Orbit
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References
edit- ^ "THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET". Scientific American. 42 (19): 293. 8 May 1880. JSTOR 26073185.
- ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "C/1880 C1 (Great southern comet) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ J. E. Bortle (1998). "The Bright Comet Chronicles". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ G. W. Kronk (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. p. 448. ISBN 0-521-58505-8.
- ^ H. C. Russell (April 1880). "Observations of the Great Southern Comet, 1880, made at the Observatory, Sydney" (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 40 (6): 379. doi:10.1093/mnras/40.6.379.
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