Weblog
20 Could 2014
Bayeux Tapestry
In 1066 a comet appeared within the sky, bigger than Venus, and unusually brilliant. Like many comets, its look was taken as an omen. This occurred to be the identical yr because the Battle of Hastings, during which the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II clashed with Duke William II of Normandy in a battle which sealed the Norman conquest of England. After the battle it grew to become clear that the comet was an omen of William the Conqueror’s victory, which is commemorated within the Bayeux Tapestry. The comet is included within the tapestry, as you’ll be able to see.
Historically comets have been typically seen as omens. Generally good, typically dangerous, and generally each relying in your perspective, as within the 1066 comet. Aristotle held that comets have been a product of gases that may catch hearth within the higher environment, and this view typically held till the 1500s. In 1577 a big and brilliant comet was noticed throughout Europe, and Tycho Brahe used parallax observations to exhibit that the comet was outdoors the orbit of the Moon, possible greater than 3 times the lunar distance. They clearly weren’t a product of the Earth’s environment.
With Newton’s improvement of the idea of gravity within the late 1600s, many astronomers sought to use gravity to the movement of comets. In 1705 Edmond Halley demonstrated that the comets of 1531, 1607 and 1682 had almost an identical orbits. He predicted they have been, in truth, the identical comet, and that it will seem once more in 1758. His prediction was successful, which is why it’s now often known as Halley’s comet. Since then we’ve been in a position to hint its look all through historical past, together with the Hastings comet of 1066.
1910 New York Instances
After Halley’s discovery of cometary movement, comets started to be considered much less as omens. However the look of Halley’s comet in 1910 gave rise to an apocalyptic scare. By this time astrophotography had been developed, and astronomers have been starting to make use of spectroscopy to investigate the weather within the Solar and stars. When astronomers appeared on the spectrum of Halley’s comet, they recognized issues like water, carbon monoxide, but additionally a carbon-nitrogen molecule often known as cyanogen. We now check with it as cyanide. The presence of this toxic gasoline was alarming to some, significantly on condition that the trail of Halley’s comet was such that the Earth would cross by means of its tail.
Whereas most astronomers thought this was not an enormous deal, however there was one explicit astronomer who disagreed. Nicolas Camille Flammarion was well-known on the time for his standard science writing, science fiction novels, and work on spiritualism. When interviewed by the New York Instances, he was quoted as saying the cyanogen “would impregnate the environment and probably snuff out all life on the planet.” Evidently this little bit of sensationalism by a preferred scientist created fairly a stir. Fuel masks have been bought, comet tablets have been proffered, and church attendance was on the rise.
In fact when Earth handed by means of Halley’s tail, nothing occurred. Nobody was poisoned, and the world didn’t finish.
You’ve typically heard me complain about sensationalism in science reporting. The indicators and portents of hype, if you’ll. Evidently, it’s been occurring for fairly a very long time.
