Lexell's Comet
Encyclopedia
D/1770 L1, popularly known as Lexell's Comet after its orbit computer Anders Johan Lexell
, was a comet
discovered by astronomer
Charles Messier
in June 1770. It is notable for having passed closer to the Earth
than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of only 0.015 AU. The comet has not been seen since 1770 and is currently considered a lost comet
.
by Messier, who had just completed an observation of Jupiter
and was examining several nebulae. At this time it was very faint, but his observations over the course of the next few days showed that it rapidly grew in size, its coma
reaching 27 minute
s across by 24 June: by this time it was of magnitude
2. The comet was also noted by several other astronomers.
The comet was observed in Japan. Surviving records identify it as an astronomical and historical phenomenon.
. Messier measured the coma as 2° 23' across, around four times the apparent angular size of the Moon. An English astronomer noted the comet crossing over 42° of sky in 24 hours; he described the nucleus as being as large as Jupiter
, "surrounded with a coma of silver light, the brightest part of which was as large as the moon's orb".
Messier was also the last astronomer to see the comet as it moved away from the Sun, on October 3.
or elliptical. Anders Johan Lexell made four separate sets of calculations over a period of several years and deduced an orbital period of 5.58 years. Lexell also noted that, despite this short-period orbit, by far the shortest known at the time, the comet was unlikely to have been seen previously because its orbit had been radically altered on a previous occasion by the gravitational forces of Jupiter
. It is, therefore, the earliest identified Jupiter family comet (as well as the first known Near-Earth Object
).
The comet was never seen again. Lexell, after conducting further work in cooperation with Pierre-Simon Laplace
, argued that a subsequent interaction with Jupiter in 1779 had further perturbed
its orbit, either placing it too far from the Earth to be seen or perhaps ejecting it from the Solar System
altogether. The comet is now considered "lost in space".
Lexell's work on the orbit of the comet is considered to be the beginning of modern understanding of orbit determination
. In the 1840s Urbain Le Verrier carried out further work on the comet's orbit and demonstrated that despite potentially approaching Jupiter as close as three and a half radii from the planet's centre the comet could never have become a satellite of Jupiter
Anders Johan Lexell
Anders Johan Lexell was a Swedish-born Russian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who spent most of his life in Russia where he is known as Andrei Ivanovich Leksel .Lexell made important discoveries in polygonometry and celestial mechanics; the latter led to a comet named in...
, was a comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
discovered by astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Charles Messier
Charles Messier
Charles Messier was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 "Messier objects"...
in June 1770. It is notable for having passed closer to the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of only 0.015 AU. The comet has not been seen since 1770 and is currently considered a lost comet
Lost comet
A lost comet is a previously discovered comet that has been missed at its most recent perihelion passage, generally because there is not enough data to reliably calculate the comet's orbit and predict its location....
.
Discovery
The comet was discovered on June 14, 1770, in the constellation SagittariusSagittarius (constellation)
Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, the one containing the galactic center. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow...
by Messier, who had just completed an observation of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and was examining several nebulae. At this time it was very faint, but his observations over the course of the next few days showed that it rapidly grew in size, its coma
Coma (cometary)
frame|right|The [[153P/Ikeya-Zhang|comet Ikeya-Zhang]] exhibiting a bright, condensed coma In astronomy, a coma is the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet. It is formed when the comet passes close to the Sun on its highly elliptical orbit; as the comet warms, parts of it sublimate...
reaching 27 minute
Minute
A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...
s across by 24 June: by this time it was of magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
2. The comet was also noted by several other astronomers.
The comet was observed in Japan. Surviving records identify it as an astronomical and historical phenomenon.
Close approach to Earth
On July 1, the comet passed just 0.015 astronomical units from Earth, approximately 6 times the radius of the Moon's orbitLunar distance (astronomy)
In astronomy, a lunar distance is a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,400 kilometers...
. Messier measured the coma as 2° 23' across, around four times the apparent angular size of the Moon. An English astronomer noted the comet crossing over 42° of sky in 24 hours; he described the nucleus as being as large as Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
, "surrounded with a coma of silver light, the brightest part of which was as large as the moon's orb".
Messier was also the last astronomer to see the comet as it moved away from the Sun, on October 3.
Orbit
A number of orbital calculations were made, some indicating a perihelion date (the date of the closest approach to the Sun) of August 9-10, and some a date of 13-14, depending on whether the orbital solutions were parabolicParabolic trajectory
In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics a parabolic trajectory is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity equal to 1. When moving away from the source it is called an escape orbit, otherwise a capture orbit...
or elliptical. Anders Johan Lexell made four separate sets of calculations over a period of several years and deduced an orbital period of 5.58 years. Lexell also noted that, despite this short-period orbit, by far the shortest known at the time, the comet was unlikely to have been seen previously because its orbit had been radically altered on a previous occasion by the gravitational forces of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
. It is, therefore, the earliest identified Jupiter family comet (as well as the first known Near-Earth Object
Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object is a Solar System object whose orbit brings it into close proximity with the Earth. All NEOs have a perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. They include a few thousand near-Earth asteroids , near-Earth comets, a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft, and meteoroids large enough to...
).
The comet was never seen again. Lexell, after conducting further work in cooperation with Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste...
, argued that a subsequent interaction with Jupiter in 1779 had further perturbed
Perturbation (astronomy)
Perturbation is a term used in astronomy in connection with descriptions of the complex motion of a massive body which is subject to appreciable gravitational effects from more than one other massive body....
its orbit, either placing it too far from the Earth to be seen or perhaps ejecting it from the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
altogether. The comet is now considered "lost in space".
Lexell's work on the orbit of the comet is considered to be the beginning of modern understanding of orbit determination
Orbit determination
Orbit determination is a branch of astronomy specialised in calculating, and hence predicting, the orbits of objects such as moons, planets, and spacecraft . These orbits could be orbiting the Earth, or other bodies...
. In the 1840s Urbain Le Verrier carried out further work on the comet's orbit and demonstrated that despite potentially approaching Jupiter as close as three and a half radii from the planet's centre the comet could never have become a satellite of Jupiter
External links
- D/1770 L1 (Lexell) Orbit Diagram, NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
JPL