Comets :: Essays Papers

Comets What is Cometography? 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 His two volumes, called Cometographie, were published in 1783 and 1784, but are now greatly out of date.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 c omet 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. Comets :: Essays Papers Comets What is Cometography? 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 c omet 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.