Victorian Spectacles: Great Comets of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Nature couldn’t have chosen a better century upon which to bestow such an unprecedented profusion of brilliant comets. During the nineteenth century, the mathematics involved in pinning down cometary orbits was pretty well established. The instrumentation with which to study comets had never been more advanced, and the sheer number of observers—both amateur and professional—interested in the study of comets was at an all-time high. No fewer than eight Great Comets graced nineteenth-century skies, six of these appearing within the space of just 40 years, bestowing upon many an astronomer an enviable set of indelible memories.