The Great Comet of 1861 formally designated C/1861 J1 and 1861 II, was a
comet that was visible to the
naked eye for approximately 3 months. It was categorized as a
Great Comet, one of eight in the
19th century.It was discovered by
John Tebbutt of
Windsor, New South Wales,
Australia, on
May 13,
1861, with an
apparent magnitude of +4, a month before
perihelion (
June 11). It was not visible in the northern hemisphere until
June 29, but it arrived before word of the comet's discovery.The comet of 1861 interacted with the Earth in an almost unprecedented way. For two days, when the comet was at its closest (0.1326
AU), the Earth was actually within the comet's tail, and streams of cometary material converging towards the distant
nucleus could be seen. By day also the comet's gas and dust even obscured the Sun.
See more at Wikipedia.org...
Free Download Now!
