Great Southern Comet of 1887

Kreutz comet

C/1887 B1

Observations of the tail of C/1887 B1, Knowledge, Nov. 1887

Discovery
Discovered by| J. M. Thome
Discovery date| January 19, 1887
Designations

Alternative designations

| 1887 I; 1887a; Great Southern Comet of 1887; the "Headless Wonder"; Thome's Comet
Orbital characteristics
Observation arc| 8 days (very short arc)[1]
Number of
observations| 15
Orbit type| Kreutz sungrazer
Perihelion| 0.00483 AU (723 thousand km)[1][2]
Eccentricity| 1.0 (assumed)[1]
Max. orbital speed| 606.1 km/s @ perihelion[3]
Inclination| 144.383°
Last perihelion| January 11, 1877

The Great Southern Comet of 1887, or C/1887 B1 using its International Astronomical Union (IAU) designation, was a bright comet seen from the Southern Hemisphere during January 1887. Later calculations indicated it to be part of the Kreutz Sungrazing group. It came to perihelion (closest approach to the center of the Sun) on 11 January 1877 at a distance of 0.00483 AU (723 thousand km) with a velocity of 606.1 km/s.[3] Since the Sun has a radius of 696000 km, the comet passed about 27000 km from the surface of the Sun.

A curious feature of the comet was that few, if any observations were made of a cometary head or nucleus. As a result, some older astronomical texts refer to it as the "Headless Wonder".[4]

## Discovery

[edit]

The comet was officially discovered by astronomer John Macon Thome at Córdoba, Argentina, on January 19, at which point it was located in the constellation Grus.[5] However, correspondence from William Henry Finlay suggests that it may also have been seen from Blauwberg, South Africa, on January 18.[5] At the time of discovery the comet had already passed perihelion a week earlier, and its closest approach to Earth had been a month earlier on 22 December 1886 when it passed at a distance of 0.57 AU (85 million km).[6]

## Observations

[edit]

The comet reached first magnitude,[7] and was widely observed by astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere for the remainder of January. On the 22nd Finlay described it as a "pale narrow ribbon of light, quite straight" of about 35 degrees in length, though no cometary head could be distinguished.[8] On the 23rd, Thome recorded a tail length of over 40 degrees, but like other observers stated he could not find a nucleus. On January 27, C. Todd recorded seeing the comet's head as a "diffused nebulous mass", but noted a break between the head and the tail (possibly representing what is referred to as a tail disconnection event).

Following the publication of an ephemeris by S. C. Chandler, which suggested the comet could be located 20° from Rigel by the end of February, astronomers in the United States eagerly waited for it to move far enough into northern skies to be visible.[9] However, the comet faded extremely rapidly, and never became visible from northern latitudes. It was last observed by John Tebbutt from New South Wales on January 30, a relatively short period of observation overall for a comet.

## Analysis

[edit]

The first, speculative, orbit was calculated by Heinrich Kreutz; however definitive calculation was difficult because no observations were made of the nucleus. By February, Finlay had derived an orbit which linked the comet firmly to the Kreutz Sungrazing group. A more definitive orbit was calculated in 1978 by Zdeněk Sekanina, based on the assumption that the comet's head was on a great circle "through the sun and inner part of the tail".[10]

Sekanina was subsequently to speculate that the unusual appearance of the comet was due to a "tail formation event", an outburst of cometary dust, about 6 hours after perihelion.[11] This event and the rapidly fading brightness, Sekanina argued, showed that C/1887 B1, along with C/1945 X1 (du Toit), represented a class of comets in between the "great" sungrazers (such as the Great Comet of 1882) and the many smaller objects discovered by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

C/1887 B1 perihelion (closest approach to the center of the Sun) on 11 January 1887[3]
(The Sun has a radius of 696000 km)  Perihelion
(Sun approach)  | Earth distance
(AU)  | Sun centerpoint distance
(AU)  | Velocity
relative to Earth
(km/s)  | Velocity
relative to Sun
(km/s)  | Solar
elongation

|
|
|
|
|

11 January 1887 ≈22:33 | 0.987 AU (147.7 million km; 91.7 million mi; 384 LD) | 0.00483 AU (723 thousand km; 449 thousand mi; 1.88 LD) | 576.7 | 606.1 | 0.16°

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "JPL Small-Body Database: C/1887 B1 (Great southern comet)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
2. ^ Orbital elements given by Sekanina, QJRAS, 19 (1978), 52-3
3. ^ a b c "Horizons Batch for C/1887 B1 on 11 January 1877" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
4. ^ Bortle, J. The Bright Comet Chronicles, International Comet Quarterly, 1998
5. ^ a b Kronk, G. W. Cometography, v2, CUP, 2003, p.588
6. ^ "Horizons Batch for C/1887 B1 on 1886-Dec-22" (closest Earth approach occurs when deldot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
7. ^ Milani, De Martino & Cellino (eds) Asteroids, comets, meteors 1993: proceedings of the 160th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Belgirate, Italy, June 14–18, 1993, Springer, 1994, p.8
8. ^ Kronk, p.589
9. ^ "Lost Tramp of the Skies - The Great Southern Comet Disappears", New York Times, February 27, 1887
10. ^ Kronk, p.591
11. ^ Sekanina, Z. Statistical Investigation and Modeling of Sungrazing Comets Discovered with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, The Astrophysical Journal, 566:577-598, 2002 February 10

## External links

[edit]

* Great Southern Comet of 1887 at the JPL Small-Body Database
* Close approach * Discovery * Ephemeris * Orbit diagram * Orbital elements * Physical parameters

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Lists of comets (more)

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(notable)|

* 88P/Howell
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Comet-like
asteroids|

* 596 Scheila
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* (300163) 2006 VW139

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* 11P/Tempel–Swift–LINEAR
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* 271P/van Houten–Lemmon
* 289P/Blanpain

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Not found|

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* 75D/Kohoutek
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Visited by
spacecraft|

* 21P/Giacobini–Zinner (1985)
* 1P/Halley (1986)
* 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup (1992)
* 19P/Borrelly (2001)
* 81P/Wild (2004)
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* C/2006 P1 (2007)
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Near-Parabolic
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(notable)|

| Until 1990|

* C/-43 K1 (Caesar's Comet)
* X/1106 C1 (Great Comet of 1106)
* C/1264 N1 (Great Comet of 1264)
* C/1402 D1 (Great Comet of 1402)
* C/1471 Y1 (Great Comet of 1472)
* C/1577 V1 (Great Comet of 1577)
* C/1652 Y1
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* C/1843 D1 (Great March Comet of 1843)
* C/1847 T1 (Miss Mitchell's Comet)
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* C/1865 B1 (Great Southern Comet of 1865)
* X/1872 X1 (Pogson's Comet)
* C/1874 H1 (Comet Coggia)
* C/1881 K1 (Comet Tebbutt)
* C/1882 R1 (Great Comet of 1882)
* C/1887 B1 (Great Southern Comet of 1887)
* C/1901 G1 (Great Comet of 1901)
* C/1910 A1 (Great January Comet of 1910)
* C/1911 O1 (Brooks)
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* C/1927 X1 (Skjellerup–Maristany)
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* C/1947 X1 (Southern Comet)
* C/1948 V1 (Eclipse)
* C/1956 R1 (Arend–Roland)
* C/1957 P1 (Mrkos)
* C/1961 O1 (Wilson-Hubbard) [de]
* C/1961 R1 (Humason)
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* C/1969 T1 (Tago-Sato-Kosaka) [de]
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* C/1970 K1 (White–Ortiz–Bolelli)
* C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek)
* C/1975 V1 (West)
* C/1980 E1 (Bowell)
* C/1983 H1 (IRAS–Araki–Alcock)
* C/1989 W1 (Aarseth-Brewington)
* C/1989 X1 (Austin)
* C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)

|

After 1990|

* C/1990 K1 (Levy)
* C/1992 J1 (Spacewatch–Rabinowitz)
* C/1993 Y1 (McNaught–Russell)
* C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp)
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After 1910
(by name)|

* Aarseth-Brewington
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* Lulin
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* C/2006 M4
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* C/2020 F8
* Tago-Sato-Kosaka [de]
* West
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