Ventura’s Brush with the Tail of the Comet - Museum of Ventura County
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Ventura’s Brush with the Tail of the Comet
by Library Docent Volunteer Andy Ludlum
Computer reconstructed image of Halley’s Comet processed from an original black-and-white plate taken in 1910 at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona., via Wikimedia Commons.
Even after 76 years, John Doughty’s memories as an 8-year-old in 1910 were as clear as if it were yesterday. The Simi Valley man said his mother, Annie, began crying and yelling when she first spotted Halley’s Comet. She fell to her knees and waved her arms up and down in prayer. She was certain the comet was a sign from God, “a cyclone that would burn a hole through the Earth.”
John was “scared to death” by his mother’s reaction but braved a look at the celestial intruder. It was extremely bright and to his young eyes appeared to be the size of the moon, hovering 50 yards above the earth with a 100-yard tail. John remembers his mother telling him and his siblings to clean up and put on their Sunday clothes. “She didn’t know whether we were going to hell or heaven, but she wanted to make sure we were clean when we got there.” When his mother finally realized that nothing was going to happen, the family went back to their regular routine.
The comet that appeared so near in John’s eyes was indeed making one of its closest approaches to Earth, just under 14 million miles. That “100-yard tail” was 24 million miles long in May 1910 and the Earth was on a direct path through the mysterious, gaseous tail.
Halley’s Comet Appears in the Earliest Historical Records
British Astronomer Sir Edmond Halley didn’t discover Halley’s Comet, but he recognized that the comet that appeared in 1531, 1607, and 1682 was the same comet, and predicted its return in 1758. When it returned as he predicted, the comet was named after him. Godfrey Kneller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Halley’s Comet has captivated us for thousands of years. It first appears in Chinese historical records in 240 BC. It was named after British Royal Astronomer Edmund Halley when he noted in 1758 that the comet repeatedly returned on a predictable path for millennia. It becomes visible from Earth every 76 years.
Halley is classified as a periodic or short-period comet, meaning it has an orbit lasting 200 years or less. The comet’s path comes nearest the Sun somewhere between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. Its furthest distance from the Sun is roughly the orbital distance of Pluto.
The main body of the comet, or nucleus, is a mix of ice and dust, leading astronomers to call it a “dirty snowball.” As Halley nears the Sun, compounds in the ball with low boiling points begin to vaporize, creating a coma or bright tail of mostly ionized water, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide that can stretch millions of miles from the nucleus. More recently, astronomers discovered that 90 percent of Halley’s surface is coated in a layer of dark dust that retains heat, leading many of them to change their description of the comet to a “snowy dirtball.” These “non-volatile” materials form a second, fainter tail of the comet consisting of microscopic particles.
Comet’s Arrival Eagerly Anticipated
Despite having a tail that can stretch for millions of miles, Halley’s center or nucleus is relatively small: barely nine miles long, five miles wide and five miles thick. 1910. Donn, Bertram; Rahe, Juergen; Brandt, John C., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 1910, telescopes were powerful enough to track the comet around its 76-year orbit. Its return was highly anticipated and eagerly reported by the newspapers. On January 5th, the Ventura Morning Free Press reported that Halley’s comet “will give the Pacific Coast a close brush this year on May 18…and the phenomenon will...