scholarly journals IV. Observations of Halley's Comet, after its Perihelion Passage

1837 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
J. Herschel
1974 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 171-173
Author(s):  
T. Kiang

I have re-examined the records in the Chinese“Standard Histories”on this famous object, including one set of relatively precise observations made in the year 837 A.D., which has only recently become available in an English translation (Ho 1962). This set, when properly interpreted, consists of the comet’s right ascension on 10 specified dates, given to the nearest half of a Chinese degree (1 Chinese degree = 360°/365.25). While the records of the other returns are not so precise, they can nevertheless be used with great advantage to determine the time of perihelion passage. These records provide an almost complete coverage back to the year 240 B.C.


1972 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 155-155
Author(s):  
J. L. Brady

Numerical experiments have been made in an attempt to remove the residuals of P/Halley and link the seven apparitions from 1456 to 1910. All efforts to link more than two apparitions using Newtonian equations have invariably failed. However, by the addition of a secular term to the equations of motion, the four apparitions from 1910 back to 1682 can be linked by a numerical integration which represents the observations to contemporary accuracy. When this integration is continued, the apparitions of 1607, 1531, and 1456 show residuals of less than one day in the time of perihelion passage. Prior to 1456 the residuals begin to run off but, with the exception of 1222 and 1066, the apparitions back to 837 show residuals no greater than four days in the time of perihelion passage. The residuals of 20 days in 1222 and 7 days in 1066 appear anomalous but can be made reasonable if the Chinese records are adopted in preference to the European records.


1891 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 420-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Chrystal

In the Introduction to his famous Théorie Analytique des Probabilités, Laplace, after an eloquent summary of the progress of Astronomy from the days when every rare celestial phenomenon was regarded as a portent of human misery, to the verification in April 1759 of the perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, proceeds to say :—“The regularity which Astronomy shows us in the movement of Comets exists, beyond doubt, in every phenomenon of nature. The curve described by a simple molecule of air or of vapour is regulated in a manner as certain as the planetary orbits: there is no difference between the two cases save our ignorance.


In calculating the elements of Halley’s comet, former astronomers have in general adopted the parabolic hypothesis, neglecting the reciprocal of the semi-axis major; and even in the more recent investigations of its orbit, no accurate value of this quantity has been employed. Mr. Lubbock, perceiving the serious effect which an error in the semi-axis major would occasion in the determination of the other elements, renewed these very laborious calculations, assuming as the value of this quantity that given by M. Pontécoulant, in his “Théorie analytique du Systême du Monde;” taking also into account the alterations which the elements of the comet have undergone by the action of the planets, and likewise the effect of precession upon the longitude of the node, and of the perihelion. The author takes this opportunity of correcting the very erroneous statements that have been made respecting the results of his investigations, especially with regard to the time of the perihelion passage, which is, of course, very different from that of its actual appearance to spectators on the earth; although these two epochs are frequently confounded with one another.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 197-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.-C. Levasseur-Regourd ◽  
J.-L. Bertaux ◽  
J.M. Le Blanc ◽  
J.L. Weinberg ◽  
F. Giovane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 751-757
Author(s):  
V.M. Balebanov ◽  
G.I. Zubenko ◽  
D.A. Voronov ◽  
B. Valnicek ◽  
I. Rechek ◽  
...  

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