Open AccessAwaiting Halley's return
Author(s) -
Heyn Herman M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2004eo030008
Subject(s) - demise , halley's comet , comet , history , astronomy , art history , art , physics , law , political science
When Comet Halley perihelioned in early 1986, there were people still around who had witnessed its previous 1910 apparition. (Then there is Mark Twain, who was born under the comet in 1835, wished for his demise upon its return, and died one day after it perihelioned in 1910!) I so enjoyed my 1986 view of Halley, that I decided I would like to be among those who see it again when it perihelions in 2061. The big problem with this ambition is that I would need to live to a Guinness Book of World Records age of 131 years. Now, thanks to Randy Showstack's In Brief news note,“Farthest, faintest detection of a comet” ( Eos , 16 September 2003), I have been handed a fallback position which, literally, I may be able to live with: a telescopic photo of Halley at aphelion.