Helley's Comet

Chinese records of comet also dates back to a long time ago. During the Spring and Autumn Period, some 2,200 years ago, Chinese documents already had entries on what later came to be known as Halley's Comet. The record of the comet, which appeared in 613 BC, in Spring and Autumn Annals is recognized as the earliest mention of Halley's Comet in the world, 670 years earlier than the western Europe, where the earliest record of Halley's Comet was in 66.

Since Halley's Comet visits the earth once every 76 years, it came back to the earth 29 times during a period of 2,149 years from 240 BC (the 7th year of the reign of the First Emperor of Qin) to 1910 (the 2nd year of the reign of Emperor Xuantong of Qing). Each of these visits was clearly recorded by Chinese scholars. J. R. Hind, an astronomer from the West, once used these continuous data to calculate the orbit of Halley's Comet, and discovered that the angle of the orbit showed a narrowing trend. In the Han Dynasty , it was 170 degrees, but it narrowed down to 161 degrees in the mid-19th century.

From 1600 BC to AD 1600, China recorded comets 581 times, leaving behind valuable materials. In 635 BC, Chinese astronomers pointed out that the comet always traveled with its back to the sun. Without these repeated observations, the detailed descriptions of the comet tails could not have been made, nor could the relationship between the sun and comets have been correctly deduced.

Author: Jessie