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Comets: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Star of the Hero 1936.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Star of the Hero'', Nicholas Roerich (1936)]] | |||
Since ancient times '''comets''' have been thought to be harbingers of events—usually the death of kings, wars, famines, plagues and other disasters. | Since ancient times '''comets''' have been thought to be harbingers of events—usually the death of kings, wars, famines, plagues and other disasters. | ||
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== Halley’s Comet == | == Halley’s Comet == | ||
[[File:Lspn comet halley.jpg|thumb|upright|Halley’s Comet]] | |||
English astronomer and mathematician Edmund Halley (1656–1742) was the first to calculate the orbit of the great comet of 1682—since known as Halley’s comet. Identifying it as the same comet which had appeared in 1531 and again in 1607, he correctly predicted its return in 1758. The comet, which follows a highly elliptical path around the sun over a 76-year period of revolution, appeared in 1910 and again in 1986. | English astronomer and mathematician Edmund Halley (1656–1742) was the first to calculate the orbit of the great comet of 1682—since known as Halley’s comet. Identifying it as the same comet which had appeared in 1531 and again in 1607, he correctly predicted its return in 1758. The comet, which follows a highly elliptical path around the sun over a 76-year period of revolution, appeared in 1910 and again in 1986. | ||