Discovery of Halley in the solar system. The Amazing Story of Halley's Comet

Halley's Comet. 1910 Wikimedia Commons

On the eve of the new decade of the twentieth century world community suffered another serious shock. The reason was not war or another revolution. This time the threat came not from people, but directly from the sky: in 1910, the next appearance of Halley's comet was expected.

The English scientist Edmund Halley at the beginning of the 18th century became the first astronomer who managed to calculate the orbit of a comet and, accordingly, predict the appearance of a celestial body near the Sun. Bright, clearly visible from Earth with the naked eye, with a relatively short return period (75-76 years), Halley's Comet quickly became the most famous “celestial wanderer”. According to astronomers' calculations in May 1910, the Earth should have passed through the comet's tail, which stretched for tens of millions of kilometers. The latest images of the comet's spectrum revealed bands of cyanogen (cyanide), a poisonous gas. It became well known to the public from crime reports: potassium cyanide was already a popular suicide poison in Europe. Therefore, never before has the return of this comet been awaited with such interest and anxiety.

About the origin and physical properties almost nothing was known about the comet's tail, scientists together with journalists wondered about possible consequences. The comet became not just a traditional harbinger of troubles, but also their direct cause: archaic ideas were superimposed on scientific ones.

But panic in society began long before the appearance of the poisonous comet. In an atmosphere of anxious anticipation for Halley, at the very beginning of 1910, another bright comet suddenly appeared in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, visible even in the daytime sky (Great January Comet C/1910 A1). Confusion begins in the press: no one knows where Halley is, which comet had poison in its tail - and in general, whether these are different comets or one. The Petersburg Leaflet stated at the end of January: “At present, the overwhelming majority of foreign newspapers state that Comet A. is precisely Halley’s Comet, which appeared a year earlier than astronomers had calculated.” Astronomers themselves, of course, have repeatedly stated that these are two different comets.

Comet and world

The news of the poisoned tail and the unexpected appearance of a second comet fueled the already heated debates and speculation that arose everywhere around the new phenomenon. Every now and then new ones were attributed to comets destructive forces- floods in France, snow storms in the Ryazan region, or even tram stops.

"Correspondent" Berliner Tagebl. telegraphs an amazing phenomenon that took place near Florence. Between Valha and Sampiero it began to rain small, round, hot meteorites. Roads, fields and vineyards are completely covered with them. Most of the plantings died. After this fiery rain, the clouds opened and a shining comet was visible. The population serves prayer services in fear.”

Heavenly power is with us!
Something is wrong in the world
It's no longer pleasant for us to listen
Talk about new comet!
We were waiting for Halley's Comet.
Suddenly another one appeared;
With a mysterious mysterious air,
It shines, shining in the sky.
<...>
Will we manage somehow?
Trouble is getting closer and closer.
Somewhere the earth is already shaking,
And a flood in Paris.
The Eiffel Tower has settled down,
Those people walk around in anxiety;
That's right, the comet hit
Tower tail on the road!

The approach of comets became a fertile topic for the periodical press - in many ways, the general attacks of panic were provoked by the press itself. Newspapers reported on mass confessions in Parisian churches, on miners' strikes in the United States, on the growing number of madmen in Italy, and on French charlatans who began producing means to escape the poisonous gas of the comet - bottles of air, special "anti-comet" tablets and even umbrellas. Enterprising people in England offered those wishing to rent a submarine for rescue. It was all because of the comet.

Comet in Russia

One of the correspondents of the Morning of Russia newspaper later stated:

“We can proudly admit that the “Russian barbarians,” as our Western European friends like to call us, turned out to be much more cultured than our European neighbors in the case of Halley’s comet... No suicides, no prayers, no unrest - in a word, not a hint of what accompanied -the expectation of the “end of the world” was expected in other countries. Russian society and even the common people reacted soberly and calmly to all expectations, which in no way corresponded to reality. Now, everyone says, we can live peacefully for another 75 years before the comet possibly meets the earth again.”

In fact, the January comet in Russia also caused various speculations and fits of hysteria.

“On January 16, at 5 o’clock in the evening, a comet appeared in the northwestern sky; it occupied a vertical position, its tail was narrow, facing upward, slightly curving towards the south; yellowish color.<...>The comet caused a lot of talk among the peasants: old people, especially women, consider it an omen of the imminent end of the world. Scholars argue that the Gospel still does not work out: the decrease in faith and love between people is recognized, the increase in vices and disasters is evident, but the Antichrist was not born.”

As in the West, enterprising people also took advantage of the approach of comets for their own benefit. The sect of Brother John has become active again in Moscow  Brother John— Ivan Churikov (1861-1933), leader of the Churikov spiritual movement. He preached the idea of ​​spiritual salvation through giving up alcohol and smoking. He opposed the population census, was repeatedly imprisoned, and founded a colony of teetotalers near Vyritsa. In 1929 he was arrested by the OGPU., who now preached the secret knowledge of comets. It was reported that in Tver the appearance of the comet had already been exploited by some clever entrepreneurs. On the busy streets of the city, suspicious characters are selling the brochure “Halley's Comet and the End of the World.”

​ “Brother John recently organized a crowded meeting on “vibrant topics.” For characterization, here are some excerpts from his sermon. “There was a congress about the green serpent, but nothing came of it, because green serpents gathered against it.” “Now, they say, some kind of tail comet will arrive, they assume that it will hit the Earth, but I say: the stupid people themselves are touching their heads with Pushkin and Lermontov (!).”
A crowd of thousands of naive people, mostly women, sob tearfully, assenting to Brother.
Bratz’s business is apparently expanding: the premises have improved ventilation and electric lighting.”

Halley's Comet over Fifth Avenue and Broadway in New York. Postcard from 1910 Steve Shook/Flickr

On the other hand, many representatives of the scientific community did everything possible to reassure the population. Various public lectures gained great popularity, where a certain professor A. A. Ivanov assured listeners that the comet was safe and would fly at a respectable distance from the Earth. Often, information about the comet obtained from newspapers or public lectures had the opposite effect. For example, information about the poisonous gas contained in the tail of Halley's Comet sometimes took absurd forms.

“Yesterday and the day before, ordinary people repeatedly contacted the editor by telephone, claiming that they could smell a sort of “smell of alcohol” in the air, and fearfully inquiring whether this strange phenomenon was in connection with the approach of Halley’s Comet.
Although the smells of Halley’s comets have not yet been studied, it is unlikely that the celestial body can “smell of vodka.”
If the noses of our interlocutors on the phone are not hallucinating, then the alcoholic smell is more plausibly explained by the increased preparation of alcohol for the holiday.
In any case, celestial mechanics have nothing to do with it.”

The arrival of comets also inspired solutions to everyday problems. Thus, one young girl placed her ad in a marriage newspaper with the headline “Before the Comet,” and another, dressed as a comet, participated in a costume contest. However, the resourceful Mrs. Zhukova had to be content with only second place: the first was awarded to Mrs. Gaidarova for her pumpkin outfit.

The appearance of Halley's comet also served as a good occasion for exercises in wit. A cartoon of one of the leaders of the nationalist movement in Russia, an employee of the “New Time” Mikhail Menshikov, with the caption: “If a comet collides with the Earth, you will have to write an article about the dominance of foreign elements,” has become widespread.” The feuilletonists also delighted the audience with their works. Vladimir Golikov, under the pseudonym Wega, published a number of miniatures in the newspaper “Voice of Moscow”, humorously highlighting the reaction of leading newspapers to the comet. Among them, the cadet newspaper Rech allegedly stated the following about the comet:

Appearance of a comet
Gives no illusions to the press
And it does not at all signify
Easing repression.

The more radical “New Time,” which sympathized with nationalist circles, allegedly considered the appearance of the comet a foreign provocation:

A comet is approaching...
We know that we are suitable!
This is probably what our neighbors
Foreigners are to blame!
They say they have intercourse
Brought up with the vault of heaven
And Halley's comet
Poisoned with synerod.
In pre-reform times
They wouldn't be given a treat
And now, under the third Duma,
The authorities are in hibernation.

There were also texts in the spirit useful tips population, where the apocalyptic theme was surprisingly combined with a cheerful intonation:

A minute is dear to us:
The world is coming to an end!
There is a bull on the ground
For this reason.

Soon we'll have a comet's tail
Throws him onto his shoulder blades.
Don't lend money on interest
Give away the leftovers!

Writers about the comet

The news about the comet worried not only the general newspaper reader, but also the capital’s intelligentsia, so it is not surprising that not only “poems for the occasion” from humorous newspapers, but also very serious texts by famous writers were dedicated to the comet. Before 1910, the comet was already a completely traditional poetic image. However, until the news of the disastrous synerod spread throughout society, this image was very attractive, but still quite innocent. In most cases, the comet served, for example, as a metaphor to describe a love relationship. Thus, in Maximilian Voloshin’s wreath of sonnets “In the worlds of love, faithless comets...” (1909), consisting of 15 poems, the comet was the central image, but did not carry any threat with it:

In the worlds of love there are unfaithful comets,
Through the heavenly spheres the flickering stozhar -
Clouds of fire, restless fire,
Ecumenical storms wandering lights, -

We carry it far...

Everything changed in 1910, when rumors spread about a catastrophe threatening the Earth. The eve of the comet's return is marked by an explosion of references to it in poems. The comet became a stable sign of danger and death. In the poems of Nikolai Gumilyov, the comet appeared several times, it was either bloody in color (“Portrait of a Man”), or crimson and at the same time blue (“Adam’s Dream”); in Mikhail Zenkevich she appeared in the form poisonous snake(“Shadow God”); David Burliuk’s was saturated with poison (“Stanzas”).

The symbolists perceived the approach of the comet most acutely. For them, it was not just a potential threat, but also an indisputable sign of the end of the world. Sergei Sokolov (Krechetov) described the state of a man who was preparing to accept death from a comet without complaint (“The Last Man”):

The sign of a comet is like the coils of a serpent,
Crowned by the sky. So. It's time.
I lie motionless, numb,
By the cold fire...

Igor Severyanin, an egofuturist poet, despite his aesthetic differences with the symbolists, was in agreement with them on this issue. Moreover, he was convinced that the comet was not just a symbol of the end of the world, but also a punishment for people for all their sins, which he expressed in his poetry “Sextina. The presentiment is more tormenting than a comet...":

How divinely enlightened you have been in the darkness!
Prophetically-foggy signs;
They are bonfires, but those bonfires are everywhere...
A folk genius, locked in need,
One managed to realize the dream of a comet
And talk about the vengeful star.

I see death coming in a star
And if you are the evil one lost in the darkness,
Prophet poet of pagan omens,
You tell me about the horrors of a comet,
I merge with you and about need
I want to forget: why? because death is everywhere!
She is coming, she is already everywhere!..

Wing greetings to the punishing star -
She brings an end to earthly need...
Like ten suns, shine, star, in the darkness,
Blind your life and live up to the signs
A comet enchanting with oblivion!

Block and comets

Alexander Blok could not remain indifferent during these unrest in 1910. The appearance of comets corresponded to his symbolic picture of the world, in which, after the revolution of 1905, the poet and humanity were on the verge of a mystical catastrophe. Comets were both messengers and the cause of it - the embodied element. Blok was especially inspired not by Halley, but by the unexpected Great January Comet. It is about this first comet that the poet writes to his mother on January 11 (the comet is not yet visible in the St. Petersburg sky, the city is filled with rumors):

“Do you know that besides Halley’s comet (safe like Nat[alya] Nik[olaevna] [Volokhova]) there is another unknown one - a real stranger? Its tail, consisting of sinerod (hence the blue gaze), can poison our atmosphere, and all of us, having made peace before death, will sweetly fall asleep from the bitter smell of almonds on a quiet night, looking at the beautiful comet...”

In the printed speeches of astronomers dedicated to the new comet, there were no mentions of cyanide - it is this, like potassium cyanide, that smells like bitter almonds. But this is not important - Halley, according to Blok, could not be a “stranger” simply because she is familiar to everyone: her orbit is known, returns to the Sun are predicted. The January comet was much better suited to the role of an unexpected guest. Since the mid-1900s, the image of a comet in Blok’s lyrics has been associated with a female character - through Pushkin’s “Portrait” (“Like a lawless comet / In a circle of calculated luminaries”) and through Apollo Grigoriev’s “Comet” (“The comet will fly in the wrong line”). The stranger from Blok’s drama of the same name is the “falling maiden star”; The image of a comet’s tail can be seen both in the “mourning feathers” from the poem “Stranger” and in the train, “tambourine of a blizzard”, fan from “There, in the howling cold of the night...”. The image of a female comet appears especially persistently in the cycle “Snow Mask” (1907) (“You alone will rise above the entire desert / Unfold the comet’s trail”). The recipient of the “Snow Mask” itself, actress Natalya Nikolaevna Volokhova, with whom Blok fell in love in winter
1906-1907, did not accept the life-building practices of the poet, refusing to take the place of the Stranger. In a letter to his mother, Blok playfully cancels the addressing of the cycle (Volokhova = Halley’s familiar comet) and finds a new motivation for the image of the heroine through the synerod: “from here comes the blue gaze” (the poet recalls in the letter the poem “Trail spattered with stars...” from “Snow Mask” and the line “blue, blue, blue gaze”).

In February 1910, Blok would write the famous “Black Raven in the Snowy Twilight...”, in which comets and earthly passion are combined in the images of a “terrible world”:

Scary world! It's too close for the heart!
It contains the delirium of your kisses,
The dark wraith of gypsy songs,
Hasty flight of comets!

However, the Great January Comet will leave the earth's sky without any incident, and Block will greet Halley in May without much enthusiasm. On May 12 in Shakhmatovo, Blok writes in his notebook:

“This morning I got out of my warm bed at four o’clock in the morning to look at the comet. It was a gray morning, the fog was swirling...
I didn’t see the comet, but I saw how [the tenant] Yegor, who had gotten up with his pregnant wife, was hastily and stealthily filling a cart of straw... how the sheep came out and rushed unattended to our clover, unfed chickens crawled out... three unfortunate calves came out, hobbled with pregnant Olga with a bucket.”

Along with Blok’s disappointment in the comets, which did not realize their symbolic potential, the motifs in his poetry, which were united for a short time, also disintegrate. The “comet” theme is summed up by the famous poem “Comet” (“You threaten us last hour..."), the first edition of which was written in September of the same 1910, when the unrest around Halley finally subsided. The comet in the poem is neutralized through comparison with human civilization - the Earth turns out to be the same comet: “Our world, with its peacock tail spread, / Like you, is filled with a riot of dreams.” Both the elements and civilization are equally overcome by the hero:

No! Death is not scary for a hero,
When a dream goes crazy!
Even if you're over your head
You will exude the sweet poison of the tail,
And menacingly falls silent behind your back
The monotonous crack of the screw.  Quote according to the first edition.

This is one of the rare poems by Blok of the 1910s, where victory over disaster and death triumphs - both “Aviator” (1912) and the opening stanzas of “Retribution” will be performed in a completely different intonation. But in 1910, the cyanogen from departed comets turned out to be harmless. 

HALLEY'S COMET the only short-period comet (orbital period approx. 76 years), easily accessible to observation with the naked eye.

Relatively small comet nuclei, consisting of ice interspersed with dust particles, approaching the Sun, are enveloped in a huge atmosphere (coma) of gas and dust hundreds of thousands of kilometers long. Intense solar heating evaporates ice from the comet's nucleus, releasing gas and dust into the surrounding atmosphere. Then, under the pressure of solar photons and high-speed particles of the solar wind, this substance flies away in the direction opposite to the Sun, forming a gas-dust tail of a comet, reaching a length of millions of kilometers.

In March 1986, Halley's Comet was observed not only by numerous amateur astronomers and professional scientists, but also by five international spacecraft ( see also SPACE PROBE). The Japanese probes Sakigake and Suisei observed a huge hydrogen cloud surrounding the comet and studied the interaction of the comet with charged particles of the solar wind. The Soviet probes Vega-1 and 2 passed on March 6 and 9 at distances of 8,871 and 8,014 km from the comet. The European Space Agency's Giotto probe passed on March 14, 1986 closest to the comet's nucleus, only 605 km. Television images transmitted by European and Soviet probes showed the comet's pitch-black core. By comparing ground-based and space-based observations of the gas and dust surrounding the core, scientists concluded that it is about 50% ice, with the rest being dust and other non-volatile substances. Ice consists mainly of water (80%) and carbon monoxide (10%), with the rest being formaldehyde, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia and hydrocyanic acid. The non-volatile part, mainly represented by micron-sized dust particles, consists of either rocky matter or light hydrocarbons.

Externally, the nucleus of Comet Halley appears as a potato-shaped object measuring approx. 14ґ 10ґ 8 km. Its very black crust of carbonaceous (organic) matter is covered in many places with fractures, through which the subcrustal substance is visible, consisting mainly of water ice interspersed with dark dust particles. Since the comet's nucleus rotates around its axis with a period of several days, this ice, under the influence of sunlight, evaporates and turns into gas, which, flying out of the nucleus, captures dust particles with it. It was this core, like a small dirty iceberg, that supplied all the gas and dust that formed the vast atmosphere and tail of the comet.

Halley's Comet was the first to be predicted to periodically return to the central region of the Solar System. Using the mathematical apparatus developed by I. Newton, his colleague E. Halley (1656-1742) calculated the parameters of the orbits of 24 comets observed by astronomers in previous years. It turned out that the comets that appeared in 1531, 1607 and 1682 had similar orbits. Halley suggested that they were in fact the same object, and predicted that the comet that now bears his name would return to the Sun at the end of 1758 or at the beginning of 1759. When the German amateur astronomer I. Palich discovered the comet in the sky at the end of 1758, this became a triumph of Halley's calculations and Newton's laws underlying them.

On its long path along the orbit, Halley's Comet is subject to the gravitational attraction of the planets it passes by, and as it approaches the Sun, it feels a weak force response from the gases evaporating from the surface of its core. Under the influence of these disturbances, the orbital period of a comet can change for several years from one appearance to another. Calculating the past movement of Halley's Comet allows us to calculate each of its 30 appearances between 240 BC. and 1986. Its next two passages near the Sun are expected on July 28, 2061 and March 27, 2134. The comet's passage in 1986 slightly disappointed observers, since it did not come close enough to the Earth. Its minimum distance from our planet on April 10, 1986 was 63 million km. Unfortunately, during its return in 2061, the comet will not come closer than 71 million km to Earth. This will happen on July 29, 2061. And the return of 2134 will be more impressive, since the comet on May 7, 2134 will be at a distance of 13.7 million km from Earth.

Comets are one of the most mysterious celestial bodies that appear in the sky every now and then. Today, scientists believe that comets are a byproduct left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago. They consist of a core of various types ice (frozen water, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane mixed with dust) and a large cloud of gas and dust surrounding the core, often called a "coma". Today, more than 5260 of them are known. The brightest and most impressive are collected here.

Great Comet of 1680

Discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch on November 14, 1680, this magnificent comet became one of the brightest comets of the seventeenth century. She was remembered for being visible even in the daytime, as well as for her spectacular long tail.

Mrkos (1957)

Comet Mrkos was photographed by Alan McClure on August 13, 1957. The photo made a great impression on astronomers, since for the first time a double tail was noticed on a comet: a straight ion tail and a curved dust tail (both tails are directed towards the opposite side from the Sun).

De Kock-Paraskevopoulos (1941)

This strange but beautiful comet is best remembered for its long but faint tail, and for being visible at dawn and dusk. The comet received such a strange name because it was discovered simultaneously by an amateur astronomer named De Kock and the Greek astronomer John S. Paraskevopoulos.

Skjellerup - Maristani (1927)

Comet Skjellerup-Maristany was a long-period comet whose brightness suddenly increased greatly in 1927. It was visible to the naked eye for approximately thirty-two days.

Mellish (1917)

Mellish is a periodic comet that has been observed primarily in the southern hemisphere. Many astronomers believe that Mellish will return to Earth's horizon in 2061.

Brooks (1911)

This bright comet was discovered in July 1911 by astronomer William Robert Brooks. It was remembered for its unusual blue color, which was the result of radiation from carbon monoxide ions.

Daniel (1907)

Comet Daniel was one of the most famous and widely observed comets of the early twentieth century.

Lovejoy (2011)

Comet Lovejoy is a periodic comet that comes extremely close to the sun at perihelion. It was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy.

Bennett (1970)

The next comet was discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969, when it was at a distance of two astronomical units from the Sun. It was notable for its radiant tail, composed of plasma compressed into filaments by magnetic and electric fields.

Seki Lines (1962)

Initially visible only in the southern hemisphere, Seki Lines became one of the brightest objects in the night sky on April 1, 1962.

Arend-Roland (1956)

Visible only in the southern hemisphere during the first half of April 1956, Comet Arend-Roland was first discovered on November 8, 1956 by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland in photographic images.

Eclipse (1948)

Eclipse is an exceptionally bright comet that was discovered during a solar eclipse on November 1, 1948.

Viscara (1901)

The great comet of 1901, sometimes called Comet Vizcar, became visible to the naked eye on April 12. It was visible as a second magnitude star with a short tail.

McNaught (2007)

Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007, is a periodic celestial body discovered on August 7, 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught. It was the brightest comet in forty years and was clearly visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere in January and February 2007.

Hyakutake (1996)

Comet Hyakutake was discovered on January 31, 1996, during its closest passage to Earth. It was named the "Great Comet of 1996" and is remembered for being the closest celestial body to Earth in the last two hundred years.

Vesta (1976)

Comet Vesta was perhaps the most exciting and eye-catching comet of the last century. It was visible to the naked eye, and its two huge tails stretched across the entire sky.

Ikeya-Seki (1965)

Also known as the "Great Comet of the Twentieth Century", Ikeya-Seki was the brightest comet of the last century, appearing even brighter than the Sun in daylight. According to Japanese observers, it was about ten times brighter than the full moon.

Halley's Comet (1910)

Despite the appearance of much brighter long-period comets, Halley is the brightest short-period (it returns to the Sun every 76 years) comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye.

Great Southern Comet (1947)

In December 1947, a huge comet was spotted near the setting sun, the brightest in decades (since Halley's Comet in 1910).

In our Solar System, along with the planets and their satellites, there are space objects that are of great interest in the scientific community and popular among ordinary people. Comets rightfully occupy a place of honor in this series. It is they who add brightness and dynamics to the solar system, turning near space into a testing ground for research for a short time. The appearance of these space wanderers in the sky is always accompanied by bright astronomical phenomena that can be observed even by an amateur astronomer. The most famous space guest is Halley's Comet, a space object that regularly visits near-Earth space.

The last appearance of Comet Halley in our near space occurred in February 1986. She appeared in the sky for a short moment in the constellation Aquarius and quickly disappeared into the halo of the solar disk. During the passage of perihelion in 1986, the space guest was within sight of the Earth and could be observed for a short period. The comet's next visit should take place in 2061. Will the usual schedule for the appearance of the most famous space visitor be disrupted after 76 years, will the comet come to us again in all its beauty and brilliance?

When did Halley's comet become known to man?

The frequency of appearance of known comets in the Solar System does not exceed 200 years. The visits of such guests always caused ambiguous reactions in people, causing concern to some unenlightened people and delighting the scientific fraternity.

For other comets, visits to our solar system are rare. Such objects fly into our near space with a periodicity of more than 200 years. It is not possible to calculate their exact astronomical data due to their rare occurrence. In both cases, humanity has constantly dealt with comets throughout its existence.

For a long time, people were in the dark about the nature of this astrophysical phenomenon. Only at the beginning of the 18th century was it possible to begin a systematic study of these interesting space objects. Halley's Comet, discovered by the English astronomer Edmund Halley, became the first celestial body about which it was possible to obtain reliable information. This became possible due to the fact that this space hulk is clearly visible to the naked eye. Using observational data from his predecessors, Halley was able to identify a space guest who had visited the solar system three times before. According to his calculations, the same comet appeared in the night sky in 1531, 1607 and 1682.

Today, astrophysicists, using the nomenclature of comets and the available information about their parameters, can confidently say that the appearance of Halley’s comet was noted in the earliest sources, approximately in 240 BC. Judging by the descriptions available in Chinese chronicles and manuscripts of the Ancient East, the Earth has already encountered this comet more than 30 times. The merit of Edmund Halley lies in the fact that it was he who was able to calculate the periodicity of the appearance of a cosmic guest and quite accurately predict the next appearance of this celestial body in our night sky. According to him, the next visit was supposed to take place 75 years later, at the end of 1758. As the English scientist expected, in 1758 the comet once again visited our night sky and by March 1759 flew within sight. This was the first predicted astronomical event associated with the existence of comets. From that moment on, our constant celestial guest was named after the famous scientist who discovered this comet.

Based on many years of observations of this object, approximately the timing of its subsequent appearances has been compiled. Despite the fact that in comparison with the transience human life The orbital period of Comet Halley is quite long (74-79 Earth years), scientists always look forward to the next visit of the space wanderer. In the scientific community, it is considered great luck to observe this enchanting flight and the accompanying astrophysical phenomena.

Astrophysical features of the comet

In addition to its fairly frequent appearance, Halley's comet has the most interesting features. This is the only well-studied cosmic body that, at the moment of approaching the Earth, moves with our planet on a collision course. The same parameters are observed in relation to the movement of other planets in our star system. Hence, there are quite wide opportunities for observing the comet, which makes its flight in the opposite direction along a highly elongated elliptical orbit. The eccentricity is 0.967 e and is one of the highest in the Solar System. Only Nereid, a satellite of Neptune, and the dwarf planet Sedna have orbits with such similar parameters.

The elliptical orbit of Comet Halley has the following characteristics:

• the length of the semi-major axis of the orbit is 2.667 billion km;
• at perihelion, the comet moves away from the Sun to a distance of 87.6 million km;
• when Halley's comet passes near the Sun at aphelion, the distance to our star is 5.24 billion km;
• comet's orbital period Julian calendar averages 75 years;
• The speed of Halley's comet when moving in orbit is 45 km/s.

All of the above data about the comet became known as a result of observations made over the past 100 years, from 1910 to 1986. Thanks to the highly elongated orbit, our guest flies past us at a huge oncoming speed - 70 kilometers per second, which is an absolute record among the space objects of our solar system. Halley's Comet of 1986 provided the scientific community with a mass detailed information about its structure and physical characteristics. All data obtained was obtained through direct contact of automatic probes with a celestial object. Research was carried out using the Vega-1 and Vega-2 spacecraft, specially launched for a close acquaintance with the space guest.

Automatic probes made it possible not only to obtain information about the physical parameters of the nucleus, but also to study in detail the shell of the celestial body and get an idea of ​​​​what the tail of Halley's comet is.

In terms of its physical parameters, the comet turned out to be not as large as previously thought. The size of the irregularly shaped cosmic body is 15x8 km. The greatest length is 15 km. with a width of 8 km. The comet's mass is 2.2 x 1024 kg. In terms of its size, this celestial body can be equated to medium-sized asteroids wandering in the space of our solar system. The density of the space wanderer is 600 kg/m3. For comparison, the density of liquid water is 1000 kg/m3. Data on the density of a comet's nucleus vary depending on its age. The latest data are the result of observations taken during the comet's last visit in 1986. It is not a fact that in 2061, when the next arrival of a celestial body is expected, its density will be the same. The comet continually loses weight, disintegrates, and may eventually disappear.

Like all space objects, Halley's Comet has an albedo of 0.04, comparable to the albedo of charcoal. In other words, the comet's nucleus is a fairly dark space object with a weak surface reflectivity. Almost no sunlight is reflected from the comet's surface. It becomes visible only thanks to its rapid movement, which is accompanied by a bright and spectacular effect.

During its flight through the expanses of the solar system, the comet is accompanied by the Aquarids and Orionids meteor showers. These astronomical phenomena are natural products of the destruction of the comet's body. The intensity of both phenomena can increase with each subsequent passage of the comet.

Versions about the origin of Halley's Comet

In accordance with the accepted classification, our most popular space guest is a short-period comet. These celestial bodies are characterized by a low orbital inclination relative to the ecliptic axis (only 10 degrees) and a short orbital period. As a rule, such comets belong to the family of Jupiter comets. Against the background of these space objects, Halley's comet, like other space objects of the same type, stands out strongly for its astrophysical parameters. As a result, such objects were classified as a separate, Halley type. On at the moment Scientists could only detect 54 comets of the same type as Halley’s comet, which in one way or another visited near-Earth space throughout the existence of the Solar System.

There is an assumption that such celestial bodies were previously long-period comets and moved to another class only due to the influence of the gravitational force of the giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. In this case, our current permanent guest could have formed in the Oort cloud - the outer region of our solar system. There is also a version about a different origin of Halley's Comet. The formation of comets is allowed in the border region of the solar system, where trans-Neptunian objects are located. In many astrophysical parameters, small bodies in this region are very similar to Halley's comet. It's about about the retrograde orbit of objects, strongly reminiscent of the orbit of our cosmic guest.

Preliminary calculations have shown that the celestial body, which flies to us every 76 years, has existed for more than 16,000 years. At least the comet has been moving in its current orbit for quite a long time. It is not possible to say whether the orbit was the same for 100-200 thousand years. A flying comet is constantly influenced not only by the forces of gravity. Due to its nature, this object is highly susceptible to mechanical influence, which in turn causes a reactive effect. For example, when a comet is at aphelion, the sun's rays heat its surface. In the process of heating the surface of the core, sublimating gas flows appear, acting like rocket engines. At this moment, fluctuations in the comet's orbit occur, affecting deviations in the orbital period. These deviations are clearly visible already at perihelion and can last 3-4 days.

Soviet robotic spacecraft and European Space Agency probes narrowly missed the target on their voyage to Halley's Comet in 1986. Under terrestrial conditions, it turned out to be impossible to predict and calculate possible deviations in the comet's orbital period, which caused vibrations of the celestial body in orbit. This fact confirmed the scientists' version that the orbital period of Halley's Comet may change in the future. In this aspect they become interesting composition and the structure of comets. Preliminary version that these are huge boulders space ice, are refuted by the long existence of comets that did not disappear or evaporate in outer space.

Composition and structure of the comet

The nucleus of Halley's Comet was studied at close range for the first time by robotic space probes. If previously a person could observe our guest only through a telescope, viewing her at a distance of 28 06 a. That is, now the pictures were taken from a minimum distance, just over 8000 km.

In fact, it turned out that the comet's nucleus is relatively small in size and resembles an ordinary potato tuber in appearance. Examining the density of the core, it becomes clear that this cosmic body is not a monolith, but is a pile of debris of cosmic origin, closely connected by gravitational forces into a single structure. A giant block of stone does not just fly in outer space, tumbling in different directions. The comet has a rotation, which, according to various sources, lasts 4-7 days. Moreover, the rotation is directed in the direction of the comet’s orbital movement. Judging by the photographs, the core has a complex terrain, with depressions and hills. A crater of cosmic origin was even discovered on the surface of the comet. Even despite the small amount of information obtained from the images, it can be assumed that the comet's nucleus is a large fragment of another large cosmic body that once existed in the Oort cloud.

The comet was first photographed in 1910. At the same time, data from a spectral analysis of the composition of our guest’s coma were obtained. As it turned out, during the flight, as it approaches the Sun, volatile substances, represented by frozen gases, begin to evaporate from the heated surface of the celestial body. Nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide vapors are added to water vapor. The intensity of emission and evaporation leads to the fact that the size of the coma of Halley's comet exceeds the size of the comet itself by thousands of times - 100 thousand km. versus 11 km of the average size. Along with the evaporation of volatile gases, dust particles and small fragments of the comet's nucleus are released. Atoms and molecules of volatile gases refract sunlight, producing a fluorescent effect. Dust and large fragments scatter reflected sunlight into space. As a result of the ongoing processes, the coma of Comet Halley is the brightest element of this celestial body, ensuring its good visibility.

Don't forget about the comet's tail, which the comet has special form and is its trademark.

There are three types of comet tails to distinguish:

• type I comet tail (ionic);
• comet tail type II;
• Type III tail.

Under the influence of solar wind and radiation, the substance is ionized, creating a coma. Charged ions under the pressure of the solar wind are pulled into a long tail, the length of which exceeds hundreds of millions of km. The slightest fluctuations in the solar wind or a decrease in the intensity of solar radiation leads to partial breakage of the tail. Often such processes can lead to the complete disappearance of the tail of a space wanderer. Astronomers observed this phenomenon with Halley's Comet in 1910. Due to the huge difference in the speed of movement of the charged particles that make up the comet's tail and the orbital speed of the celestial body, the direction of development of the comet's tail is located strictly in reverse side from the Sun.

As for solid fragments, cometary dust, the influence of the solar wind is not so significant, so the dust spreads at a speed resulting from a combination of the acceleration imparted to the particles by the pressure of the solar wind and the initial orbital speed of the comet. As a result, the dust tails lag significantly behind the ion tail, forming separate type II and III tails, directed at an angle to the direction of the comet's orbit.

In terms of intensity and frequency of emission, comet dust tails are a short-term phenomenon. While the comet's ion tail fluoresces and produces a violet glow, type II and III dust tails have a reddish tint. Our guest is characterized by the presence of tails of all three types. Astronomers are quite familiar with the first two, while the tail of the third type was noticed only in 1835. On its last visit, Halley's comet rewarded astronomers with the opportunity to observe two tails: type 1 and type 2.

Analysis of the behavior of Comet Halley

Judging by the observations made during the comet's last visit, the celestial body is a fairly active space object. The side of the comet facing the Sun at a certain moment is a boiling source. Temperatures on the surface of the comet facing the Sun range from 30 to 130 degrees Celsius, while the rest of the comet's core drops to below 100 degrees. This discrepancy in temperature readings suggests that only a small part of the comet's nucleus has a high albedo and can become quite hot. The remaining 70-80% of its surface is covered with a dark substance and absorbs sunlight.

Such research has suggested that our bright and dazzling guest is actually a lump of dirt mixed with cosmic snow. The bulk of cosmic gases is water vapor (more than 80%). The remaining 17% is represented by carbon monoxide, particles of methane, nitrogen and ammonia. Only 3-4% comes from carbon dioxide.

As for comet dust, it mainly consists of carbon-nitrogen-oxygen compounds and silicates, which form the basis of planets terrestrial group. The study of the composition of water vapor released by the comet put an end to the theory of the cometary origin of the Earth's oceans. The amount of deuterium and hydrogen in the nucleus of Halley's comet turned out to be significantly greater than their amount in the composition of the earth's water.

If we talk about how much material this lump of dirt and snow has for life, then here you can look at Halley’s comet from different angles. Scientists' calculations, based on data on 46 appearances of the comet, indicate that the life of a celestial body is chaotic and constantly changing depending on external conditions. In other words, throughout its existence the comet remains in a state of dynamic chaos.

The estimated lifespan of Halley's Comet is estimated at 7-10 billion years. Having calculated the volume of matter lost during the last visit to our near-Earth space, scientists concluded that the comet's nucleus has already lost up to 80% of its original mass. We can assume that now our guest is in old age and in a few thousand years will disintegrate into small fragments. The finale of this brightest life can happen within the solar system, in our sight, or, conversely, take place in the outskirts of our common home.

In conclusion

The last visit of Halley's Comet, which took place in 1986 and was expected for so many years, was a great disappointment for many. The main reason for mass disappointment was the lack of opportunity to observe a celestial body in the northern hemisphere. All preparations for the upcoming event went down the drain. On top of that, the observation period of the comet turned out to be very short. This has resulted in few observations being made by scientists around the world. A few days later the comet disappeared behind the solar disk. The next meeting with the space guest has been postponed for 76 years.

List of dates for Halley's Comet

Let's start with a list of dates traditionally considered to be the appearance of Halley's Comet. It is usually divided into two parts: Chinese records about Halley's comet and European ones. Let's compare both lists with each other.

Based on these dates, astronomers Cowell and Crommelin at the very beginning of the 20th century built an astronomical and mathematical theory of the movement of Halley's comet. Based on this, they calculated the theoretical appearances of the comet in the past. In the table below, we present both the results of their theoretical calculations and the years of European and Chinese observations that are today considered to be descriptions of Halley's comet. The month indications in the left column give the moment of the comet's passage through perihelion.

Table.

Further, mentions of Halley's comet are no longer found among the Chinese and Europeans, with rare exceptions. For example, the Chinese entry minus 239 years, p. 140, is sometimes considered to be a reference to Halley's Comet, see Cowell and Cromellin's chart and list of comets on page 73.

At first glance, it seems that a fundamental conclusion immutably follows from this table: the mathematical theory of the movement of Halley’s comet is in perfect agreement with observations from the Chinese. By the way, reconciliation of this theory with European records significantly worse. But let's not be picky - everyone knows that Chinese astronomers, and especially in ancient times, were famous for their conscientiousness. Not like Europeans.

We repeat once again: the theoretical graph seems to be perfectly confirmed coincidence everyone theoretical dates with Chinese dates with the exception of only one, differing by two years and two, differing by one year. However, the deviation of 1 year can not be taken into account due to the well-known ambiguity in the choice of the beginning of the year in ancient times.

5. 2. 2. What happened to Halley's Comet in 1986? Why did she change hemisphere?

Also worthy of special attention is the fact that Chinese astronomers allegedly observed each and every appearance of Halley's Comet for two thousand years. None of her appearances were supposedly missed by them.

China is located in northern hemispheres.

In addition, in all cases when the Chinese describe the path of the comet, considered today to be Halley's Comet, they name the constellations northern hemisphere or zodiac. We verified this fact using the comet list in.

But it follows from this that without exception, all appearances of Halley's comet over the past two thousand years could supposedly be clearly observed in the northern hemispheres. At first glance, everything is clear and natural. A large periodic comet has been rotating in a stationary orbit for more than two thousand years, maintaining a more or less constant position in space relative to the ecliptic.

Now let’s ask the reader of the northern hemisphere: did he see Halley’s comet, which appeared in our memory in 1986?

No, I haven't seen it.

For a very simple reason - it was not visible in the northern hemisphere, but was visible only in the southern. Moreover, it is quite dim. What unexpectedly happened to Halley's comet? Two thousand years in the northern hemisphere, and then suddenly moved to the southern? Perhaps they will offer us an “explanation”: this is supposedly her mathematical law of motion. It is precisely about the mathematical law of motion of Halley’s comet that we will talk in the next section.

And here we summarize. Such a sharp change in the nature of the comet's movement, supposedly remaining stable for two thousand years, seems very strange to us.

Serious doubts arise about the reliability of the traditional chronology of the appearance of Halley's comet. Are all her appearances really that reliably found in Chinese chronicles? Are there any random coincidences here or something worse - later insertions? And by the way, what is the probability of a series random hits randomly selected“periodic sinusoid” on the traditional dates of Chinese comet records accepted today? We will answer this question below. Looking ahead, let's say that this probability is very high.

5. 2. 3. What happened and continues to happen to Halley's Comet after 1759? Why did the pattern in the periods of its circulation break down?

The series of dates offered by traditional chronology for the appearance of Halley's Comet in Chinese lists has one strange feature. It allows you to detect incredible exact secular pattern in the change in the orbital period of Comet Halley. Moreover, this pattern supposedly has amazing stability. This is a law discovered by astronomers Cowell and Crommelin, who studied Chinese comet lists.

We reproduce graph 1 they constructed.

schedule 1

The years of appearance of Halley's Comet are shown horizontally, according to Chinese chronology. Dates are indicated to the nearest tenth of a year.

Vertical - the orbital periods of Comet Halley, that is, the intervals between its successive returns. For example, the interval between its last appearance in 1986.1 and the previous one in 1910.3 is 75.8 years. And so on. These numbers are listed below the graph.

The graph clearly shows a periodic pattern - secular accelerations and decelerations in the movement of Halley's comet with a period of about 77.0 years. The smoothed curve in the form of a sinusoid shows the average values ​​of the circulation periods.

The jagged curve shows the values ​​of successive orbital periods of the comet, calculated on the basis of Chinese chronicles. In this sense, we will call this curve “experimental.” It should be noted that the theoretical dates calculated by astronomers for the returns of Halley's Comet are in very good agreement with the “Chinese experiment”. It was this circumstance that greatly confused N.A. Morozov and partially convinced him of the reliability of the Chinese dates for the appearance of Halley's Comet over the past fifteen hundred years - after the beginning of our era.

Now let's analyze this jagged "Chinese experimental" curve.

It turns out that the spread of “experimental” points around the sinusoid is also far from random. This supposedly experimental gear graph is practically strictly periodic. Graph 1 shows three of its periods: from minus 551 to 218 (apparently an extrapolation, since it is believed that for part of this era the Chinese have no information about Halley’s comet), from 218 to 989, from 989 until 1759.

schedule 2

In graph 2, we numbered the “experimental” points within each period with numbers from 1 to 10. It is clearly visible that the segment of the jagged curve, numbered 1, 2, ..., 10 repeated three times almost identically .

schedule 3

The discovered effect is especially clearly visible from graph 3, in which three sections of the jagged curve are superimposed on each other. Despite some minor deviations of the three curves from each other, we nevertheless see that all three curves are almost identical.

Thus, the "experimental" curve of the orbital periods of Comet Halley is strictly periodic with a period of approximately 770 years. Therefore, it is natural to expect that this law, supposedly in force for two thousand years, should also manifest itself in our days. And for mathematicians, we add that this curve is well approximated by a real-analytic function as a solution to the analytical problem of celestial mechanics. Therefore, from the fact that it exhibits strict periodicity on some segment, it follows that it must be periodic on the entire real axis. In other words, it should remain periodic in the near future.

What do we see?

Let's return to graph 1. If Halley's comet had continued to move in accordance with its secular supposedly periodic law in fluctuations of orbital periods, then the real curve of periods after 1759 would have to go in the direction of the dotted curve of Cowell and Crommelin, that is, in the direction of increasing period appeals. However, in reality the actual curve as a whole went down. This is especially clearly seen in graph 4.

schedule 4

The thick black curve shows the behavior of the periods of Halley's comet in the years 1759, 1835, 1910, 1986. This curve completely destroys the “Chinese experimental law” that was supposedly in effect for two thousand years. Apparently, the first suspicions about the validity of this “periodic law” arose already among Morozov. Here's what he wrote:

The comet came in 1910, for three and a half years previously predicted, and this circumstance makes us suspect some artificiality in the selection and medieval dates in order to justify the sinusoid of acceleration and deceleration. , p.138.

Now, after several decades, when Halley's Comet came back at the wrong time again, which was predicted by the “Chinese law,” we can say with even greater confidence that serious errors were made in the usual chronology of the return of Halley’s Comet.

schedule 5

Graph 5 shows the behavior of the periods of Halley's comet over the last six hundred years, that is, from 1301 AD. until 1986. Since we can more or less trust traditional chronology in this era, there is reason to think that graph 5 depicts the actual behavior of Halley's Comet. Provided, however, that its appearance in the XIV-XV centuries AD. are indeed correctly identified with Chinese and European records. And we have already noted that there is every reason to doubt the correctness of such identifications. Otherwise, why did the trajectory of the comet of 1378, supposedly identified today with Halley’s comet, so confuse the astronomer Pingret? See above.

However, let us agree for a while with the Scaligerian chronology and assume that all appearances of Halley's comet over the past six hundred years are correctly identified with Chinese and European observations.

So what do we see? The average curve of periods, - black thick line on graph 5, - is clearly goes down, that is, the average orbital periods of Comet Halley decrease. Clearly visible is the dotted curve representing Cowell and Crommelin's supposed "Chinese law" does not correspond to actual appearances of Halley's Comet over the past 600 years. In other words, it appears more and more often near the Sun. It is not entirely clear why this happens. Perhaps its orbit changes noticeably and its speed increases. It is possible that it is beginning to collapse altogether. The answer to these questions can only be given by her future returns. And right now we don't have enough data to predict its evolution.

One thing can be said more or less definitely - There are noticeable changes in the behavior of Halley's comet with each successive return, and there is no reason to believe that its past life was subject to some kind of periodic law.

Important conclusion.

Based on the above, we are forced to admit that the “Chinese toothed sinusoid” during the periods of Halley’s comet fake. It could not have appeared as a result of real observations and the real movement of the comet. Hence, either one arose by chance, or it is the result of forgery. Intentional or unwitting - “with the best intentions.” We'll talk about this below.

5. 2. 4. Where did the “Chinese periodic law” come from for Halley’s Comet

They may reasonably ask us. Well, if there is no periodic law in the behavior of Halley's comet, then how did it appear? experimental the jagged sinusoid on which Cowell and Crommelin formulated their hypothesis? After all, they found in old comet records all points without exception, which fit perfectly into the “Chinese periodic law”? Were all the Chinese observations deliberately falsified by someone in order to prove the periodicity of the returns of Halley's Comet over the past 2000 years? After all, after all, there is a graph on the graph. 1 we see at least 17 points from an era earlier than the 14th century. Are they all fake?

Of course not.

However, our analysis showed that it seems partial the fake was actually made after all. At the same time, as we will now demonstrate, falsifying several dozen records was unnecessary. Structure very thick Chinese list of cometary records is such that to justify almost any “periodic law” of this type it would be enough to falsify (insert) just from one to three observations.

Let's look at this in more detail.

Of course, the whole point is that Chinese comet list is too dense- that is, it records an extremely large number of “appearances of comets”, he is very “thick”" Suppose that someone wanted to “put into it” a certain periodic law, that is, to find in it a periodic series of observations spaced apart in time, say, by 76 years or 80 years, or 120 years, etc. Is it possible to do this?

It turns out that it is possible. Moreover, - for majority randomly selected period values. If you want, you will find a “comet” with a period of 55 years, or if you want, you will find a “comet” with a period of 101 years. Sometimes, however, for a perfect fit With your desire, you will need to insert two or three “observations” into the comet list. It will be difficult to reconcile such a “periodic law” with the Chinese list only for a few individual periods - too many “observations” will have to be added.

To show this, we will take as a starting point the 1607 observation of Halley's Comet, which is at the end of the Chinese comet list. We believe it is reliable. After all, this is already the seventeenth century.

Going from 1607 into the past with a fixed time step (period), we tried to select a suitable observation from the Chinese list each time. It turned out that for majority such predetermined periods can actually be found in the Chinese comet list almost everything, suitable to within 3 years, observations, except perhaps one or three observations. See table below.

Thus, by inserting one or three observations into the Chinese comet list, it is not difficult to justify with its help any secular periodicity and even any orbital period for Halley’s comet. With rare exceptions of particularly “unsuccessful” periodic patterns, which turned out to be completely unsuitable for Chinese experimental data.

And the point here, of course, is not about Halley’s comet, but about the too high density of the Chinese comet list in time. Based on such a list, it would be possible to discover any periodic pattern in movement you want any comet .

Let us present a table of correspondence between the various “periods” in the orbit of Halley’s comet and “experimental” Chinese data from minus 100 to 1607.

The first column of the table contains the value of “period” - we tried all values ​​for it from 50 to 200 years. For each trial period value, we calculated all the deviations (in years) between the "theoretical" past return dates of Halley's Comet calculated from that "period" and the best-fitting "experimental" dates to those "theoretical" dates, taken from the Chinese comet chart. list. We arranged the resulting deviation values ​​in descending order and designated them d1, d2, d3,... The first four values ​​of this decreasing (more precisely, non-increasing) series are given in columns 2-5 of the table.

Thus, the second column is the maximum deviation in years between the "theoretical" past appearances of Halley's Comet calculated on the basis of this "period" and the best-fitting descriptions from the Chinese comet list. In the third column there is a deviation that follows the maximum in descending order, in the fourth - the next one, in the fifth - one more. So, for each value of the supposed “period,” we present the four largest deviations of the Chinese data from the periodic law in the orbit of Halley’s Comet with that “period.”

Table.

Comparison of Chinese comet data with "theoretical" returns of Halley's Comet calculated from arbitrarily chosen values ​​of its orbital period.

The comparison was carried out over the period from minus 100 to the end of the Chinese comet list.

Look at the last column of the table. More than half of it is zeros. Only about 10 percent of the deviations exceed three years. This means that in 90 percent of cases, the Chinese comet list will “confirm” an arbitrary predetermined period as the supposed “orbital period” of Halley’s comet. Moreover, it will “confirm” very well - with an accuracy of up to three years. And in 50 percent of cases it’s even ideal. and at the same time, for the entire 1700-year period, the Chinese list will not have enough of at most three observations from among the “theoretically calculated” ones. Indeed, what does it mean that the fourth in descending order of deviation of Chinese experimental data from “theoretically calculated” data does not exceed three years? This means that all other deviations of “theory from experiment,” with the possible exception of the three largest ones (standing in 2-4 columns), do not exceed three years.

This is how the supposed “excellent coincidence of the theory with the Chinese experiment” turns out. The structure of the Chinese comet list is such that the coincidence is, as a rule, expected to be excellent, regardless of whether the theory is correct or not.

Let's return once again to our table.

As is easy to see, among all the theoretically possible “periods of Halley’s comet”, in a strange way there is exactly one remarkable period in 77 years old. It stands out because literally every single supposedly periodic return of Halley's Comet with such a period is actually represented in the Chinese list. At first glance, it seems that this is irrefutable proof of the truth of both the list itself and its dates, and the “Halley’s comet theory.”

However - only at first glance. In fact, the comet's last return to Halley was in 1986 was not visible in the northern hemisphere. Did this really happen? for the first time in one thousand seven hundred years? This fact alone raises serious suspicions about such an over-coincidence of the theory with the “Chinese experiment.”

Note that in the European comet list, even more dense than the Chinese one, the periodic returns of Halley's Comet not mentioned five times. See table above. Therefore, the European list does not confirm periodic returns of Comet Halley. However, the following statement would be more accurate: periodic returns of Halley’s Comet do not confirm reliability of the European comet list.

As we have already shown above, the deviations of the “Chinese experiment” from the theory (with a 77-year period) are also not accidental and are expressed by a false gear sinusoid. See above. The totality of these circumstances forces us to admit that here we are still faced with forgery .

5. 2. 5. When the forgery was committed in the “observations” of Halley’s comet

It's easy to find out.

Just look at the curve graph. 1 and see where the strict periodicity in the behavior of the jagged sinusoid of Halley’s comet ends. This happens between 1759 and 1835. In other words, to the left of 1759 is a jagged sine wave almost identical repeats itself two or even three times. That is, there is a supposedly ideal “secular periodic law”.

And in 1835 this “law” was first violated(graph. 1). Although this first violation was not yet very catastrophic, it was nevertheless clearly present and occurred for the first time supposedly in two thousand years. But since this first violation (“the first call”) was not yet very pronounced, one can understand Crowell and Crommelin, who did not consider it a violation of the “Chinese law” they discovered in the appearances of Halley’s Comet.

But the next returns of Halley’s comet in 1910 and in 1986 generally “didn’t fit into any theory.” One must think that if Crowell and Crommelin had taken up this problem in our time, not only would they not have announced their “Chinese law,” but they would even have raised the question—as we do— Is everything okay with the chronology of Chinese comet lists?. Of course, it was not Crowell and Crommelin who inserted a few missing observations (no more than three) into the Chinese list so that the ideal sine wave appeared there. They only processed the Chinese lists that had already been published and recorded by tradition that had reached them.

Looking at the "Chinese sine wave" it can be assumed that the insertion of several observations (no more than three) was made, apparently, between 1759 and 1835. Only in this case did the law really turn out to be ideal, since the discouraging observation of 1835 hasn't happened yet. The authors of the forgery did not take it into account when creating the sinusoid. Therefore, a forgery was made previously 1835. But, most likely, later than 1759.

But how can this be, they will tell us, since the Chinese comet lists were published by Mailla and Gobil in the 17th century. See above.

We will answer the following. Really, initial a version of the Chinese lists was apparently published in the 17th century. However, at the beginning of the 19th century significantly more detailed Chinese lists. Such a list was published, for example, by Bio in 1846, p.42. This curious fact was noted by Morozov, but he could not figure out where and how these mysterious additions to the Chinese list of the 17th century came from.

But, as we now understand, if these additions appeared at the beginning of the 19th century shortly before the printing of the new expanded Chinese list, then this Fine corresponds to our reconstruction of events. Some "observations" were added to the original Chinese list to justify the "Chinese sine wave" of Halley's Comet.

There is no need to think that the authors of the forgery were malicious falsifiers. Most likely, they acted with the best intentions. The point is that by this time approximate The orbital period of Comet Halley was apparently already known. And it was calculated, probably, during the time of Halley in the 18th century on the basis of three or four real appearances of the comet during the 16th-18th centuries.

Science developed and someone—apparently not an astronomer—came up with the idea of ​​looking for the return of Halley’s comet in the distant past in the wonderful ancient Chinese lists.

For some reason, the idea occurred to him that fluctuations in the comet's orbital period around the average value (77 years) should be regularly repeated in the past. He took the graph for the last 700-800 years and purely mechanically repeated it back in time. The result is a periodic toothed sinusoid. And then, to his delight, the author of this idea, discovered on the Chinese list almost all required points(dates). However, he did not understand that he would have obtained the same result if he had started with any other initial period, say 109 years. And not at 77.

Most likely, he did not find two or three observations that “confirmed” his “theory”. The author was probably not an astronomer. This discrepancy between theory and practice is normal phenomenon for a professional astronomer, it destroyed the picture of a harmonious world he had created. And then he filled in these missing observations. Or he simply found some Chinese records and interpreted their vague dates and evidence as he needed. Let's repeat it again - with the best intentions. The author believed that he was restoring the true picture of the distant past.

And 100-150 years later, professional astronomers Crowell and Crommelin were surprised to discover this only recently manufactured, man-made sinusoid and canonized it, turning it into an astronomical “law of nature.” Which soon - already in 1910 - was mercilessly violated by the same nature. Namely, Halley's comet came 3.5 years ago earlier than predicted"Chinese sine wave".

Apparently, all this activity had the character of medieval Kabbalah, when many scientists were looking for beautiful, perfect numerical relationships in nature. Let us at least recall the arguments of the great Kepler about the harmony of the universe, etc. At that time they were counting back in time lunar eclipses, horoscopes, etc. They probably did the same with comets.

Finally, one more note about the 77 year period for Comet Halley. If we take the entire Chinese list of comets, and not just the part after minus 100 years, as we did above, then the period of Halley’s comet is 77 years in general nothing stands out against the background of other values ​​of possible periods. For its ideal repeatability it is not enough two points, as for many other periods.